Two Days in a Row!

Were the picture better, you could see that this actually houses my old 16 gig stick.  You have served me well, friend.

So, yesterday Drakengard 3 CE ships.  Today, I receive my 64 GB Vita Memory Stick.  I am convinced that tomorrow will bring something equally amazing, or I will have something absolutely terrible befall me, because this shit just isn't average.  Good fortune avoids me like the plague, so two days of it in a row is especially suspicious and makes me worry about just what the universe has in store for me.

But for now, I'll suspend my concerns because I have a fucking lot of space to work with.

I have noticed that, despite the constant concerns I've had with my old 16 gig stick and the space therein, on upgrading I discover that I don't have a veritable bevy of goodies with which to fill my new expanse.  This is likely due to my insistence on buying physical and having space to work with is -always- a good thing, but it's sort of made me want to just buy up a bunch of stuff -just- to fill it out, which is admittedly kind of a bad idea.  But my list of things to add to my Vita looks something like this so far:

• Soul Sacrifice (Free Digital version)
• Soul Sacrifice Delta
• Velocity Ultra
• PixelJunk Monsters Ultimate HD (I might not even bother)
• Stealth Inc. A Clone in the Dark
• Atelier Meruru Plus: The Apprentice of Arland
• Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
• Vagrant Story
• Unit 13
• Lone Survivor: The Director's Cut
• Street Fighter X Tekken (Might not bother)
• Modnation Racers: Road Trip (Won't bother)
• Smart As... (Don't know about this one)
• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
• Limbo
• Urban Trial Freestyle (Probably won't)
• Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (Had it once, probably won't get it back)
• Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD
• Sine Mora (Might Not)
• Gods Eater Burst
• BlazBlue Continuum Shift EXTEND
• Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention (Deleted it for space a while ago)
• Wipeout 2048
• New Little King's Story (Deleted for space)
• Atelier Totori Plus: The Adventurer of Arland
• Mortal Kombat
• Corpse Party
• Corpse Party: Book of Shadows
• A few more PSP games including the earlier Personas
• Final Fantasies VII-IX and X-2

....okay, so it looks like a lot and actually if I try to fit all of that on my stick, it probably won't fit. Aaaaand I skimmed over a few things like all of the Atlus RPGs I've bought on sale.

But if you compare that to the list of physical games I have (which I won't bore you with), then it -really- doesn't compare.  And those are the games I kind of want to have digital versions of now...just to have them.  Persona 4 Golden, for example or Dynasty Warriors 8 Complete, just so I can play them whenever.  It's....a slippery slope now, because yes, I already have these games and I already own them, but owning a digital version -too- would be nice.  I feel like I finally understand why Chance buys up multiple versions of games he likes, because that compulsion is welling up inside of me now.  I must resist.

I'm going to be a little more expectant of Playstation Plus, however, as I'll actually be able to download the games I get like...right away.  I won't know what to do with myself!  Aside from have games.

Like, fucking all of them.

but the Vita has no games, right

I Still Don't Know What The Hell - Watch_Dogs

I was really, really excited about Watch_Dogs (underscore for life) when it was announced and shown off at E3.  It seemed like this really great, really new and fresh-feeling thing that was going to ratchet up new IPs again and kick some ass.  It also seemed like it was going to look damn pretty while it did it, too.

It's, uh....it's not looking like it's any of these things anymore.  In truth, I just don't know what the hell Watch_Dogs is going to be like anymore.  I'm not exactly convinced the developers do either.

Watch_Dogs doesn't know if it wants to be a badass hacker simulator, a Grand Theft Auto-wannabe with electronic shenannigans, a rudimentary third-person shooter with driving elements, or even if it wants to be a super serious spy romp, or a wacky "Jerks with powerful tools" simulator.  The game gives off the impression that it wants to be all of these things specifically to try and cater and sell to everyone, and that little experiment has been tried and tried again, always with less-than-impressive results.  And yet everyone still tries it anyway.

The above video is where the cracks in my belief -really- started to show.  To that point, Watch_Dogs had seemed to want to go down the humorless (aside from the badass Asian dude rockin' the Kazuma Kiryu look) "I WILL HAVE REVENGE" route, which can be fine if done right.  The tension, the bitterness, the internal anguish and hatred festering in the main character, they're all very gripping and driving with the right writing applied to them.  However, that's a folly to start, since an open-world game is prone to mischief the likes of which that makes grown men giggle - something that inherently destroys that mood, and one of the big problems people had with GTA IV.  (Rather, thematic disconnect all around, not just the revenge plot)

However, adding a side mission where you almost comically pass out only to awaken piloting a giant fuck-off spider-tank (with only six legs) bent on destroying everything in sight?

Nah.  Not feeling it.

At least, not from the mood that Watch_Dogs had fostered before that point.  The Not-So-Spider-Tank is silly and dumb as hell and I love it because of that, but it just doesn't make sense and I'm almost disappointed in it.  I don't want to be disappointed in a giant fuck-off tanks in a somewhat destructible environment with plenty of people and cars to stomp.  That is the direct opposite of what I want!  Yet, this is what Ubisoft has reduced me to and I'm not too happy about it.

The other main bone of contention (Literally the only other thing, really, since the "lack of coherent direction" is fairly all-encompassing) revolves around the fact that the graphics and presentation has slid around quite a lot in the time from the initial reveal (Which everyone knew was bullshit anyway) to now which has seen some -dastardly- looking screenshots and gifs (that is a comparison, btw) in the meanwhile, all of which indicating that the game is going to look...well, not -bad- (except that screenshot), but not Next Gen, which at least Assassin's Creed 4 managed to do, and quite capably.  Part of that has to do with splitting to last-gen as well, which is ultimately the wrong way about it, but part of the blame has to fall on the clear mismanagement that the game has seen in the time it's been developed.

So what do I even want from Watch_Dogs anymore?  I don't....don't really know.  I'll have to do what I do best in these situations: assemble a list.

• Game has to look at least -pretty- good.  (It's looking like it will, even though it was thought to be 1080p/60 FPS on PS4 and apparently is not)
• If this is another Third-Person Cover Shooter, I'm going to be pissed.  Thus, I don't want gunplay to be a -major- portion of the game.  It's going to be moreso than, say, Sleeping Dogs' gunplay, but I don't want GTA-levels.
• The Spider-Tank?  I don't even know....I guess I hope the other "Cyber Trips" aren't as silly and inconsistent?  Or maybe I want them to be moreso.
• I want Jordi Chin to be a major part of the story.  I do not want to go five missions without seeing that dude because he is awesome.
• A little depth to Aiden would be nice.  "REVENGE" is good and all, but....yeah.
• Cars don't control like ass.
• -Locked- Framerate.  It'll probably be 30 FPS, and if it dips below 30, that is downright embarrassing.
• I want the Electronics/Hacking stuff to be -useful- and -integral-, not a neat thing you can use -or- completely ignore in favor of BOOLETTS

Are we going to get any of those?  I don't know.  I have absolutely no clue.  I just know that I want them and if they're not present, I'm just....really going to be disappointed with the game.  Don't do this to me, Ubisoft.

I feel like asking this game to not just be a cover-based shooter at this point is moot, but goddamnit, I can hope

Upcoming Purchases - Early 2014 (Vita Version)

As the new year starts, there is a vigilant hope and eagerness to see the spread of releases for the shiny new systems on the market, all but eschewing everything that is not brand-new.  Regardless of what most of the internet wishes to tell you, the release schedules for the PS4 and the XBone are not the only ones that are filled with a wealth of riches.  And though you may be surprised (incorrectly so) by the fact that the Vita is one of these at the forefront of that argument, you'll likely not be able to deny it.  Better yet, you can probably prop this post up on your already-long "list of reasons to buy a Vita already" to make it that much easier on yourself.  Because if you don't own one yet, you are seriously missing out, and if nothing else, the PS4's Remote Play feature is something that has proven itself already as something you want in your household.  Unless, of course, you have the luck enough to have uninterrupted time with your TV and no need to multi-task beyond gaming at it.

Even then, you're still missing out on Gravity Rush, Soul Sacrifice, Tearaway, Persona 4 Golden, Ys: Memories of Celceta and (most of) these upcoming releases.

Danganronpa:  Trigger Happy Havoc

February 11th, 2014

I don't know a lot about Danganronpa, beyond the exclamations from early players that it's gripping and suspenseful, enjoyable, and has been referenced among the likes of 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors.  That's about all I need to know, really.  It's a murder mystery with at least a bulk of it presented as a visual novel in terms of gameplay, if not all of it, and that's fine.  That's spectacular, even.  It's clearly got style and it has people hooked, people who liked 999, and that is what I want more of.  I have not been able to throw money down on this yet and time is definitely ticking away.  I'm sure I've pissed away my chance at a Collector's Edition by now, but at least I can buy the game itself which is what I'll want most of all.  The date of the game is...troubling, however.

Toukiden:  The Age of Demons

February 11th, 2014

As you can see, Danganronpa and Toukiden have the misfortune of releasing on the same day, which is also the day that the third (final?) iteration of the maligned Final Fantasy XIII series, Lightning Returns, comes out.  I will be getting all three games because my wallet simply does not despise me enough yet.  Anyway, Toukiden is probably the least-desired of the three games, even though I still really want to get it in support.  I'm just not sure if it's a type of game -for- me since, as before stated, it's honestly far too much like Monster Hunter and while it may be a little more fast-paced, that doesn't necessarily make it better.  I still hope beyond hope that there will be something very uniquely KOEI about it, and/or that the Create-A-Warrior aspect of the game will help it along, but I'm going in low.  With any luck, that'll be the best option and I'll be pleasantly surprised.  I would surely hate it if the Anime primer they made for the game is the best thing to come from Toukiden.

Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster

March 18th, 2014

Perhaps this one is cheating a bit, considering the collection will also be available on PS3, but as I've stated before, it was announced for Vita first and, in my mind at least, has always been a Vita project.  I would suggest that that's why it took so damn long from announcement to release, because Squeenix drags their feet in the best circumstances, and the Vita's (undeserved) criticisms couldn't have made the prospect much more palatable for the company who has no issues with making quick, terrible decisions everywhere else.  Still, you cannot tell me that there's no part of you that doesn't harbor an interest, if not a full desire, to play the game in the palms of your hands as I'm sure most of you have memories of playing it on a television for the first time.  The novelty is there for sure, but Final Fantasy X at least was a pretty good game - depending on who you ask, it was the "last good Final Fantasy", others say it was an earlier one, but most don't go beyond X - and getting both games with some 'new content' afterward that may or may not be heinously terrible is a curiosity for those who never played X-2, or those with just a morbid fascination of Squeenix's continued plunge off of every rooftop they can find.

That list is only of the 'major' retail releases in the first couple months past this one, which is to say that it does not even begin to account for the digital offerings that will come in the meanwhile.  Minecraft is on the table for a release -sometime-, not to mention a few other Indie Games that have been featured, but not unleashed upon the world just yet.  It also neglects to mention the games beyond that period - Conception 2: Children of the Stars, Demon Gaze, Deception IV (currently planned for a March 25th release date, but I simply haven't looked up anything at all about it yet) and the Vita version of Dynasty Warriors 8 Complete Edition, with Over My Dead Body 2 hopefully seeing a release western this year as well, though probably towards the tail end of it.

The point is, there are plenty of games to go around and while people may not crow as loudly for the Vita ones, they should.  The games are there and they're fantastic.  As far as I'm aware, that's all we should care about, right?

still inordinately excited at the prospect of handheld Minecraft, like you don't even friggin' know

Oh, What Did I Get?

I know everyone loves to show off 'the haul' as it's colloquially referred to, and I decided "Hey, I can get in on that action".  Especially since it's easy and probably the only thing I -could- talk about because it's easy.  I think it'd just be best if I went down the list here.  From left to right:

• Dishonored:  Game of the Year Edition - It's supposed to be good, right?  So, I'm going to see what it's about.  Having all the DLC and such helps as well.
• Remember Me - Yes, I know it's got its flaws, but I really wanted to give it a shot.  I'm an expert at enjoying games that other people don't, after all.  Plus the whole aesthetic is just too good to ignore - if only developers could take that sort of world and make undeniably good games with it.  Here's hoping for Watch_Dogs, I guess?
• Red Dead Redemption:  Game of the Year Edition - Would you believe I've never owned nor played Red Dead Redemption?  Because I haven't.  I figured this was the time to change that.  Wanted GotY Edition because....well, I think that's obvious.  No reason to not want that since it's been out for, what, two years?  Three?
• Deadpool (in a GameStop Used Case hrrrg) - Again, one of those "I will probably enjoy it because other people didn't" and also Deadpool.  I think I watched the trailer for it when it was announced for like an hour straight because it was that enjoyable.  So I figure the game should be pretty damn funny if nothing else, and that's worth it to me.  Also Nolan North.
• Metal Gear Solid Legacy Collection - I never did get the HD Collection on PS3 because Konami apparently did a really small printing of it.  I got it on my Vita and have yet to even start it, but it's apparently the only way I'll ever play Peace Walker with proper controls unless I rebuy Peace Walker which is an unattractive idea, unfortunately.  Not that they don't deserve the support or the sale, of course, it's just that I bought the UMD on Day One, put 100+ hours into it, and space is at a constant premium on my Vita.  Not to mention the Legacy Collection comes with Metal Gear Solid 1 (download, I thought it was supposed to be on-disk, but this works better I suppose) and the VR Missions which I didn't own, as well as the Digital Novels or whatever they are that were almost impossible to find.
• Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City Twin-Pack - Much like Red Dead Redemption, I have never owned either Asylum or City, but I have also not played City.  I've got a good grip of the trophies in Asylum (I think I only need Hard Mode and a couple challenge maps), but it was through a rental, and I found myself unwilling to actually -buy- it again just for that, but I also find renting a bit...distasteful anymore.  Not trying to be a snob, of course, I just like owning my things.  I never played City because it was described as "Asylum, but better" and I was like "Well....Asylum was -okay-" and couldn't really think of how much better it could theoretically be.  I suppose I'll find out.
• Tales of Xillia: Limited Edition - I'm always going to kick myself for not buying the Collector's Edition, because I really wanted that Milla figure for some reason (I have no place for it, no understanding of the character and did I mention that I have no room for it) but I always felt that pang against logic, that simple wanting of it and I never did indulge that.  I wanted to get to Tales of Graces F before buying Xillia because I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy the series, but that bridge is a little too late to cross now and I'm not too fussed by it.  The series has a lot of fans and with any luck, more purchases means more localizations and I want to support that.  (Worked with Zestiria, so maybe we can hope on really late localizations of Vesperia and the Vita ones?  Maybe?  No?  Please?)

Aside from that, I got $150 in GameStop funbux which will go directly towards the purchase of a PS4 sometime within the next couple of months, and some nice Pajama Pants because Pajama Pants are so comfortable, you guys.  Just so comfortable.  All in all, not a bad lot of games!  Now if only I had the time to play any of them.

I pretty much just want figures from like every goddamn game I've played ever, so maybe that's why I wanted Milla - I blame my Cole statue from inFamous 2

Rune Factory 4 is So Close, You Guys

Despite the Release Date for Rune Factory 4 being officially set as October 1st, it seems that that might not have made its way into GameStop's computers, meaning it's sort of up in the air as to whether or not it will actually be purchasable tomorrow.  This is a problem since if I'm going to need the sweet, sweet embrace of Rune Factory 4 ever, it's likely going to be tomorrow due to work problems that are problems I don't want to get into because ugh.  Still, even if it's not, deliveries seem to be around Wednesday so it shouldn't be -too much- of a wait one way or another, but my point is that I really really want Rune Factory 4 ASAP.  In fact, I want it so much that I read a list of improvements that it has over Rune Factory 3 and I...kind of wish that I hadn't because it is not making this wait any easier.  So allow me to share the list with you.

• Ability to select a male or female protagonist right at the beginning of the game.
• Use the Prince Points system to arrange or cancel festivals, bring in merchants and peddlers, crafting licenses, farm and castle expansions, wake up calls from certain characters, new shop services in order to attract tourists and many, many more. Reach for the top prince or princess title!
• Return of the traditional farming format in 2x2 squares. More farm land will be available through prince point orders, assuming the player has enough wood and bricks.
• Explorable RF1 style overworld outside of Selfia but waaaay larger than the first installment. Multitudes of dungeons and explorable areas.
• Up to two party members can be taken into combat. Battle AI has improved greatly.
• A lively and memorable cast with a variety of personalities, very rich with character interaction and development. No groups or cliques like the last RF games.
• Multitude and improvement in the request system, no longer tied to the plot. 
• Marriage is independent from the plot.
• Engaging plot that consists of 3 story arcs/parts.
• Variety and improvement in the crafting system.
• Players may now run their own store through the use of a Prince Points order where NPCs, candidates and villagers alike may find something that catches their fancy.
• The baths are now accessible more than once a day but the price is raised each time if the player chooses to bathe more than once in a day. A Nationalization of the Baths Prince Points order is later made accessible, making the baths free of charge.
• 30 Town Sub events, 19 Mini Sub Events, 12 Main Romance Sub Events (one per candidate), 7 Post Marriage Sub Events (5 of them being with offspring), filled with character interaction and tons of depth. 
• Newly improved lovers system, with long, depth and development filled RFF style sub events for each marriage candidate. Over 7 date locations and intimacy options during dates increase the higher LP gets. A player can have multiple lovers but after marriage, the rest go back to being friends. 
• Players can now "plant" dungeons via rare seeds. Fruit trees can now be planted through the use of special seeds. Aside bearing fruit, they can be used for lumber.
• Players can now have access to purchasing multiple articles of various necessities (bookshelves, weapons stand, farm tools stand, wells for farming, storage boxes, ect) providing they have enough wood and bricks (made from hammering stone pieces).
• Furniture feature from RF3 makes a return but this time, they can be placed anywhere in town, similarly to forges, stoves, bookshelves, ect. 
• Sharance Maze makes a return as a Prince Point order after Plot 2 is cleared.

That list is from a forumer on Penny Arcade who cites Fogu as the source, but doesn't actually link it.  Still, it doesn't seem like there's any point in faking the list or anything like that, so I'm taking it at face value if only because there are some ridiculously awesome things upon it.  Specifically the bit about marriage being independent of the plot (the one main flaw with Rune Factory 3, I feel) and the "Player can run their own store" thing which is kind of a theme with me lately, it seems.  With Hometown Story apparently releasing towards the middle of this month, I'm not going to have a shortage of Store-Building elements and games and I am very fine with that.  Still, the complete overhaul that Marriage and Dating has seen seems absolutely amazing, and it may very well inject a brand-new life into the game as a whole. 

I really don't have much else to say beyond that list has a bunch of awesome things on it and I cannot wait to have the game in my hands to see if it's actually true.  Because that will make me -so happy- and that's something I really need right about now.

really curious about this Prince/Princess Point system, though

Okay, I'm Suddenly Hyped for Grand Theft Auto V

I'm not going to say that before tonight I wasn't looking forward to Grand Theft Auto V, but I can say with certainty that before tonight, I was not exactly excited for the game.  That has been remedied with the latest video straight from Rockstar, showing some gameplay of the game while also explaining many of its new features and the like.  In all honesty, I only saw it because of Chance's post that included it, so credit where it's due, but I'm very glad that I decided to watch it after finding myself completely without something to write about tonight.  News doesn't like to happen when I'm content playing games that I've already brought up on this blog and talked about at length, it seems, which is something of a problem, but that's neither here nor there, because this is just all about GTA V.

It's hard to even pick where to start because it's all just...so good.  It's all just visual confirmation of things we've already known about the game for some time, but that confirmation and seeing it in gameplay (relax, Rockstar, looking at the video, we don't have any doubt that it was made using in-game footage) is just...better than it was on paper, really.  It's just something wholly different than reading that it's going to do this thing and it's going to be awesome even if you can see it in your head, versus actually seeing it and being able to really deem it awesome for yourself.  Though it's true - everything that I read about and felt a little skepticism about has been shown off in the video and put my fears more or less to rest about it, even if it sort of just worked out like I expected.

I guess I should start with the obvious before anything else, though.  The game certainly looks like a Grand Theft Auto game, which sort of seems to have its own....style, now.  They're flashy enough without trying for a photo-realistic look and shiny enough while still reminding you that it's a video game, and not a video game trying to look like real life.  That suits GTA quite well, I should say, especially with all the scandals it finds itself in - hard to say, but I imagine there'd be far more fuel on the fire if it looked as good as, say, The Last of Us.  But that would require some wizardry that Rockstar generally places elsewhere.  I'm not...sure where that is, because it's certainly not animations either, but that doesn't matter.  Maybe it's just in the amount of fun you can have not doing anything impactful, since good lord, GTA games offer quite an experience outside of missions that some other open-world games just can't.

Anyway, I can't think of a way to actually just....write about the game, so I'll just sort of list things off that make me giddy with glee:

• Character switching seems easy and quick, not to mention serving a purpose in the overall game
• The game world looks -huge-
• I'm not sure I'm going to -want- to drop in to a character running from a 5-star wanted level, but man....that you can is pretty cool
• Customization in both Cars and weapons is rather encouraging
• Lots of character clothing options is a plus for the crazy person in me who likes playing dress-up
• Diving could be cool.
• Hunting!  Seems to be the thing to add in games these days.
• Humor!  From characters!
• Is that a fucking weapon wheel?  Oh my god it was a weapon wheel
• So I've seen golfing, bike riding, swimming, tennis, parachuting...there isn't going to be a lack of things to do
• Please tell me destructible environments is a thing, don't tease me with that tow truck
• Customized approaches to missions?  Mmmmm
• Stock market?  Hmm.
• Yessss, property purchasing, please make them places we can go in and such (I think it's a given that you can, though)
• Grand Theft Online....looks like there's actually a bunch of people in it.  Interesting!

There's a -lot- in that five minute video and I urge you to watch it if you haven't already.  It sent me from 0 to 60 on the hype meter, and I'm certainly going to make sure I have a pre-order on it next time I'm in GameStop because of this.  I sure didn't see that coming.

I literally went "Eeeee!" the first time I saw the weapon wheel, thank god

How to Not Mess Up a Remake

"What's old is new again."

It's a statement that comes up a lot and for obvious reasons - remakes are easy money.  Simply by the flow of time, you have people who just aren't exposed to certain things the first time around and it's just easy enough to repackage those things and sell them brand-new to the folks who just haven't experienced them as well as the people who have and want to see what the 'new' experience is like.  We've seen a lot of the remake and remaster situation this generation because we've reached a point where a -lot- of people haven't been around for as long as we have, or at least not been in it as some of us have, which just means it's easy to capitalize on.  Well, easier since, well, remaking/remastering a game is honestly a very simple process.  Yet...some companies just seem to completely miss the point.  So here's a nice little refresher course on how to properly make a remake.

If you change something big, try to make it optional - Yes, everyone knows the whole point of giving a game a remake is giving it another go while not making it a wholly different game, but that doesn't mean you should change -everything- about it.  Or if you do, then it's a good idea to leave the original there as well to give new and old alike an idea of just -what- you changed and be able to quantify just how much work you put into it.  Dragon Fantasy Book I (which I still need to review >_<) was absolutely wonderful about this, in that the guy remade the map assets and music from scratch to make it better looking and sounding, -but- they also included an option to turn it back to 'retro' to see how the game was in its original state.  (they also patched in the ability to pick between retro visuals and sounds if you were so inclined)  Compare this to, oh say, Chrono Trigger DS wherein Squeenix completely and totally changed the script without including the original.  Also the new script was terrible, thus making it all the more groan-worthy that there wasn't an option to not stomach it.

For the love of God, don't make it worse - This one should be the most goddamn obvious of them all, but it's hilariously sadly one of the ones that gets tripped over the most.  If a game ran like X on this platform, it's just....just a given that you can figure out -some- way to make it run like at LEAST X if not X+1 on more advanced platforms.  Since everything is more advanced now than what you're remaking at the moment.  If you can't, then don't fucking do it.  The more recent examples have been the Jak and Daxter HD Collection on Vita and the infamous Silent Hill HD Collection debacle, but those aren't the only ones.  Hell, it'd take a while to name all the worst ones.  But one of the particularly bad ones, I think, is Squeenix's handling of Final Fantasy Tactics:  The War of the Lions which was a remake of Final Fantasy Tactics.  While I personally didn't have too much of an issue with it, there were many, many folks who complained of some slow-down that happened during magic casting and the like.  It's a valid complaint.  Where it gets egregious is when that slowdown is still there in the next port of it (on the iPhone) and is also still there in the next next port (on the iPad) when that port came six months later.  Did fucking nobody QA this damn thing at any point?

Realize what it is you're doing and market it appropriately - Remakes and remasters can be really, really exciting since you're basically getting new fans while also allowing old fans to relive the fun of whatever it is you're remaking.  But a remake/remaster is never, ever, ever going to be, on the whole, more exciting than a new iteration of the particular game or series.  (Yes, even THAT remake that will never happen, shut up)  So never forget that.  Promoting the announcement of your remake for days, even weeks leading up to said announcement is just the height of cruelty and is completely unnecessary.  I doubt I need to remind everyone about the whole The World Ends With You debacle.  A week-long countdown site for an iOS remake that wasn't even a universal app.  Who in the actual fuck thought that was a good idea?

Give the most complete game you can - If your game released and then you did something else with it, tweaked it, added DLC (which obviously isn't a thing -yet- but will be in future remakes) or whatever, include that shit.  Different regions get different versions of a game meaning some regions don't get -everything- of a game.  So if you're remaking/remastering that game, make every version standard as the version that had the most content.  Never, ever, ever, ever, ever even consider the notion of selling these extra bits of content additionally, squash any rumor that's saying you're thinking about doing it, or at least let people know you're giving them the whole game when somebody fucking asks you about it since that also gives you a chance to explain your strategy.  Because, you know, we always assume you actually have one, being that a remaster/remake is still a release.

I hope this handy little guide helps anyone who is thinking about releasing a remake or remaster of a game in the future.  It's a complicated thing, I know, but it's rewarding and valuable if you put in the right effort.  But if you're repeatedly making big mistakes in your remakes or remasters, then perhaps you should consider either not making those mistakes or not constantly torturing your fans with shitty remakes and remasters.  Of course, it's not like there's any company that is fairly consistent in releasing bad remakes and remasters, right?

this post is very tongue-in-cheek and I am very proud of it

The Vita is Turning Into an Indie Haven

If you've been paying attention to game and port announcements lately, you'll have noticed something of a trend, and an encouraging one at that.  While the bulk of it was at GDC, a lot of Indie devs have pledged their upcoming games to the Vita, likely encouraged by the success of Brian Provinciano with Retro City Rampage and the other few Indie games that have hit already.  It helps, of course, that Sony has actively been courting devs and seem to be treating them right, given that at a GDC panel, a handful of them said "Absolutely" to the question "Is your next game going to be on the Vita?"  (Well, one did, the others just said "Yes", don't be a pedant)  Interest is spreading as well, since many of the attendees also seemed keen to work on the delightful little handheld.

In fact, the folks at the Playstation Blog were so kind to put together a list (albeit not a complete one) of indie games currently announced to hit the PS4, PS3, Vita and Playstation Mobile platforms.  I'll just keep it confined to the games that will be playable on the Vita:

• Divekick – PS3 and PS Vita
• Spelunky – PS3 and PS Vita
• Velocity Ultra – PS Vita
• Limbo – PS Vita
• Metrico – PS Vita
• Guacamelee! – PS3 and PS Vita
• Hotline Miami – PS3 and PS Vita
• Dragon Fantasy Book II – PS3 and PS Vita
• Thomas Was Alone – PS3 and PS Vita
• Luftrausers – PS3 and PS Vita
• Friend Network App – PS Vita
• Zombie Tycoon II – PS3 and PS Vita
• A Virus Named Tom – PlayStation Mobile
• Treachery in Beatdown City – PlayStation Mobile
• Crumble – PlayStation Mobile
• Crystallon – PlayStation Mobile
• Don’t Wake the Bear – PlayStation Mobile
• Hermit Crab in Space! – PlayStation Mobile
• Oh, Deer! – PlayStation Mobile
• Rymndkapsel – PlayStation Mobile
• Ten By Eight – PlayStation Mobile

(I've left the links that were there intact so you can peruse some of the Playstation Blog posts related to the games if you're so inclined)

That is no small thing by any means and, as stated, it doesn't cover the full host of games that have already been committed.  Absent, likely because of the little bit of time between the announcements and this one, are (off the top of my head) The Binding of Isaac:  Rebirth and Lone Survivor, both of which have already made their own splashes on PC, and not in a little way.  That is also not even counting the announcement of Terraria's left-right movement towards the Vita as a platform.  I am likely missing others as well, but that's fine since, I mean, this is a pretty big list, both in length and content.  Wouldn't want to, you know, overwhelm people with this stuff.

Size is, admittedly something I've been focusing on since it's the theme of an interesting new development on the game complainer's front, also known as the comment section of every mainstream game news site anywhere ever.  The whingings of "no gaaaaaames" can be heard throughout every corner of the internet, as is usually the case when something is new and developers haven't had a lot of time to actually work on it.  Despite the truth of the matter being that there clearly -are- games for the Vita, it was a bit hard to argue, given that the schedule looked a bit clear a few weeks ago with Soul Sacrifice, Tearaway and Killzone:  Mercenary being the biggest things on the horizon.  However, as it is in most cases, these folks aren't -actually- criticizing from a place where they actually want to see things get better, but rather complaining to complain.  You can tell this because the whingings have shifted from "no gaaaaames" to "No biiiiiiig gaaaaames".

While true that the scope of Indie games is usually inherently smaller than most because of the nature -of- Indie developers (usually a small group of people, if not just one or two), these are not, by any means, games that you're going to sit down and fully complete in an afternoon.  Which, by the by, you -can- do with some of the 'big' games that are out there now that people just absolutely clamor for.  At the very least, the above Dragon Fantasy Book II seems to fancy itself after RPGs of the 'old school' which, as we know, were not incredibly short affairs and we loved them for it.  I just can't help but laugh at how quickly the goalposts get moved and by laugh, I mean want to shake someone by the shoulders for about five minutes straight.  Not like I would shake any sense out of them, of course.

The whole point that I'm harping on, I think, is that one of the complaints about the Vita has been "Where are the games?" and now, bam.  There they are.  These are the confirmed ones and this level of support means that it's not a one-off thing - these developers are in because they -want- in and they're going to keep going, clearly.  Robert Boyd of Zeboyd games has been fairly coy about developing for the Vita, but has stated that there's a "good chance" that CSH (Short for Cosmic Star Heroine, code-name for the next Zeboyd Games RPG after PAA4) will be PC/Vita at launch (if not for the major consoles as well) which is a big boon, certainly.  If the 'game-starved' handheld could manage to have CSH, Hotline Miami, Terraria and The Binding of Isaac on it at the same time, well...

I think we'll manage.

Bonus Post - Things To Do If You Can't Play a PS1 Game on Your Vita

So, it seems like you are one of the folks that have a Playstation Vita, apparently solely for the purpose of playing PSOne Games and the 1.80 Update has infuriated you because how dare they sell you something that won't play something that you bought in the past, but only in digital form, of course, since it would just be silly to buy a physical game and expect to own it on all formats forever and ever, right?  Well, since everyone is incapable of thinking of anything to do beyond playing PSOne games currently, I have taken the liberty of compiling a nice, handy little list of things you can do, perchance while you await your chosen game to become compatible through means that are befitting your tastes.  So, by all means, take advantage of this, because clearly this is a big deal.

• You could always take to Internet forums and complain about it incessantly!  The fun part of this choice is that you get to feel good about yourself afterwards, of course.  Make sure to point out how you hate feeling like a Second-Class citizen, because that's not disingenuous at all when you're talking about Video Games of all things.  And don't forget to constantly insist that Sony has absolutely no idea how to do anything while you're scrolling through the pages of your Vita, possibly looking through pictures that you can set as your wallpaper, listening to songs and looking for other sites to complain to through the use of the browser.  All at the same time.
• If you're looking to be entertained regardless, you could always bring up the Youtube app to watch some lovely videos.  Some recommendations would be Kaseius, Helloween4545 and Klyka1 for a rather full range of hilarity of different origins and different game coverage.  While I may not be fully happy with the Youtube app, it serves well enough, which I can attest to from being glued to it near constantly.  Of course, since you are so mad at Sony, don't forget to point out that it's just stupid that you can't play youtube videos in the browser, and if there's any videos that you just can't watch, well, that's their fault too, nobody else's.  I mean, it's not like they designed around Flash Mobile and then Adobe pulled out of supporting that just months prior to the Vita coming out or anything.  No, nothing sensible like that.  Just allllllll Sony.  Their bad.  Totally.
• Make some sandwiches.  Why?  Because sandwiches are delicious.  Also, apparently a lovely way to pass the time.
• Play something else.  Sleeping Dogs, for instance, is fantastic, and I'm told Darksiders 2 is pretty great as well.  Maybe even play your PSOne game of choice on your PS3 or PSP if you have one.  Yes, this is assuming you have another console of some sort, but how many people out there only have a Vita?  I'd suggest not many.  Many others will as well.  Of course, they will be a lot snarkier about that fact than I.
• Take up a hobby.  Might I suggest writing a Blog?
• Play something else from the past on your Vita.  Sure, PSOne games of your choosing might not work, but there's a very respectable PSP Library out there.  If you need some suggestions, perchance to take a look at this picture for what I have currently downloaded.
• Alternatively, and I understand this is a wild suggestion, but I'm just throwing this out there:  Play Vita games -on- your Vita!  There are games for it.  This may surprise some of you out there, but I have photo proof of this above.  Were I richer man, there would be more bubbles, but I am not and thus must wait to grab some other games I want.  Games that exist.  Are tangible things.  Right now.

This will be a tough time for you, I'm sure, but I hope that my handy list has offered you a few things to do while you wait for the thing that you bought to be able to do more things than it could when you bought it, but you are still somehow entitled to.  Because there's absolutely nothing amazing on a basic level of buying something that will eventually do much more than you probably anticipated it would be able to do based on how it was when you bought it.  Absolutely not.  Take heart and be strong, however, because your time of waiting will probably be short.  Of course, if it isn't, well, that's what the list is for, anyways!

Enjoy!

Gaze Upon the Metal Gear Solid 4 Trophy List and Weep

So, just a few days ago, there was a Playstation Blog post that gave a 'full' list of Metal Gear Solid 4's trophies in the up-coming (for non-Japan regions at least) patch that was announced last month.  I say 'full' list because, as a person with a fairly discerning eye when it comes to trophies, I noticed that there were only 20 on the list, which is far, far fewer than I think most retail games would be happy with, much less Kojima.  And also missing from the list were the standard "Completed (Stage)" missions which seems to be a mainstay no matter what, which are generally Hidden trophies so that the player can't check the list and decide how much of the game is left.  Which is not to say that it helps with that, since said trophies are generally at the start of the list and after so many Hidden trophies, the visible list tends to start, so you can generally just count out how many hidden trophies are in a row, gauge how often they're giving completion ones to you and figure on a number that way to guess how close you are.  But....that's entirely more meta than it needs to be, and I think I've revealed too much.

Moving on, it was for this suspicion (and the fact that it was confirmed through Twitter in a tweet that I am not even going to begin looking for) that I held off on making a to-do about the list.  Since there is a friggin' to-do to be had about this list which I am going to do (Ha!).  But even more of a to-do with the hidden fifteen trophies since I'll be able to show them off as well as the visible list of twenty trophies, which comprises the much more satisfying looking list of Thirty-Five trophies in all.  I want to just go ahead and do the full list of trophies, visible first, then Hidden and get that out of the way so I can then discuss certain trophies in a little more detail.  So, since I'll be showing off the Hidden Trophies, and I'll bold it with extra clarification, do not read the list if you don't want to know what the Hidden Trophies in Metal Gear Solid 4 are.  Why would you not want to know?  Beats the hell out of me, but I'm quite fair when it comes to anything that might be a 'spoiler' of sorts (and being a hidden trophy falls under this umbrella) so I am just trying to be nice.

Bronze	You enjoy all the killing, that’s why.	Killed many enemies in one area, and vomited.
Bronze	Divine Wind	Caused a “divine wind” using the Tanegashima.
Bronze	Hands Up!	Held an enemy soldier at gunpoint and performed a body check.
Bronze	Emotion Control	Controlled an enemy soldier’s emotions using an Emotive Magazine.
Bronze	Hurt me more!	Shocked an enemy soldier using Mk. II/III.
Bronze	Drum Can Addict	Knocked an enemy soldier flying using a Drum Can.
Bronze	That Tune Is His Mind Control Music	Played Oishii Two-han Seikatsu and made one of the BB Corps dance.
Bronze	Overhead view — just like old times…	Used overhead view on Shadow Moses Island.
Silver	SUNLIGHT!	Obtained the Solar Gun.
Silver	I Just Don’t Fear Death	Caused ALERT status while wearing the Corpse Camo.
Silver	Where I Can See Ya	Located enemy soldiers using the Scanning Plug.
Silver	Ghost Photography Addict	Snapped at least 5 shots of ghosts on Shadow Moses Island.
Silver	FaceCamo Addict	Obtained 10 or more types of FaceCamo (excluding types obtained via password).
Silver	Can you feel my power now!!!?	Took control of an enemy soldier’s body using the Mantis Doll or Sorrow Doll.
Silver	Are you an Otaku too?	Viewed all model posters.
Silver	You’re pretty good.	Got kissed by Ocelot during the final battle.
Gold	Flashback Mania	Viewed all flashbacks.
Gold	Sounds of the Battlefield	Obtained all iPod® tracks (excluding tracks obtained via password).
Gold	I am THE expert on weapons, equipment and cutting-edge technology.	Obtained all weapons (excluding weapons obtained via password).
Platinum	The Legendary Hero	Obtained all trophies.

(Hidden) Bronze	Liquid Sun	Cleared Act 1 (Middle East).
(Hidden) Bronze	Solid Sun	Cleared Act 2 (South America).
(Hidden) Bronze	Third Sun	Cleared Act 3 (Eastern Europe).
(Hidden) Bronze	Twin Sun	Cleared Act 4 (Shadow Moses).
(Hidden) Bronze	Old Sun	Cleared Act 5 (Outer Haven).
(Hidden) Bronze	Laughing Octopus Doll	Defeated Laughing Octopus by non-lethal means, and obtained the Laughing Octopus Doll.
(Hidden) Bronze	Frog Soldier Doll	Escaped the Haven Troopers in the Middle East by non-lethal means, and obtained the Frog Soldier Doll.
(Hidden) Bronze	Raging Raven Doll	Defeated Raging Raven by non-lethal means, and obtained the Raging Raven Doll.
(Hidden) Bronze	Crying Wolf Doll	Defeated Crying Wolf by non-lethal means, and obtained the Crying Wolf Doll.
(Hidden) Bronze	Screaming Mantis Doll	Defeated Screaming Mantis by non-lethal means, and obtained the Screaming Mantis Doll.
(Hidden) Bronze	Handle with Caution	Broke off the most important part of a statue.
(Hidden) Bronze	Liquid!	Piloted Metal Gear REX and screamed at your enemy.
(Hidden) Silver	Crop Circle	Found a crop circle and heard a mysterious voice.
(Hidden) Gold	Infinite Ammo	Obtained the Bandana.
(Hidden) Gold	Stealth Camouflage	Obtained the Stealth Camouflage.

So it is...quite a list when you add in the Hidden trophies, really.  I mean, it almost doubles it in sheer entry size if not exactly adding quite as much content that is necessary to do.  No-killing the bosses is pretty simple enough, stage completions are a given, and the others are either optional things that are admittedly neat or just buying things (unless you're super awesome in your multiple playthroughs).  Though, the base list itself isn't quite that bad when you take the quick glance across it, mostly because at no single point does it say specifically "Earned the Big Boss Emblem" or anything of that sort.  The problem is....well......you still -have- to get that.  The Big Boss Emblem is the dick-kicker of everything professional about a run-through, especially for Metal Gear Solid because a Big Boss Emblem run-through means beating the game in under five hours with no kills, alerts, continues or restorative items used.  On The Boss Extreme difficulty level which is, of course, the highest one.

What trophies do you need the Big Boss Emblem for, I hear you ask?  Why, the Gold ones, "Sounds of the Battlefield" and "I am THE expert on weapons, equipment and cutting-edge technology" which is a ridiculously long trophy title, by the by.  So there is that at least; I've seen more offensive lists simply for the fact that they award something equally ridiculous with a Bronze trophy as a giant troll-face move.  You see, you acquire the Patriot (a machine gun with unlimited ammo) and the Big Boss song for the in-game iPod upon earning that Big Boss emblem.  And of course, you will likely only be ready for an attempt at the Big Boss Emblem after getting the next highest Emblems (Fox and Foxhound) because those emblems (and the ones you unlock by proxy) will unlock some neat things that will not count against your 'no special item' requirement since the special items in question are basically just the Bandanna and Stealth Camo.  Well, by neat things, I basically just mean the Solar Gun, since the charged shot takes dudes out pretty fast and gets you a lot of items without killing them.

Beyond that, after consulting my Metal Gear Solid 4 Strategy Guide from when I bought the game, I have discovered that you only unlock the "Snake Eater" track after unlocking all forty emblems that the game has to offer.  That is, at minimum, probably five playthroughs since some of them focus on directly opposite things:  Being seen versus being unseen, killing mans versus not killing mans, etc.  Plus some are difficulty dependent and this and that and it kind of makes my head hurt just thinking about it.  According to the guide, you can get the Fox Hound, Fox, Hound, Wolf, Octopus, Pigeon and Scorpion emblems in the first, Big Boss, Mantis, Raven and Little Grey in the second, Twenty-three assorted animals that I'm not listing individually on the third, Tarantula and Assassin on the fourth, and then it's just sweeping the last few of Centipede, Spider, Jaguar, Panther and Leopard in a few runs on the easiest difficulty.  They aren't interesting at all and just basically have different combinations of alert phases, continues and kills that are impossible to total all on the same plays for all five.  Given that there is no difficulty requirement, nor is it barring you from using special items, these last few plays are likely to be pretty fun, if you're not just completely goddamn tired of the game by that point.

I am....not surprised.  There are several other things that I am, but chief among them is not surprised.  Absolutely horrified, acquiesced to the fact that I will never get a Platinum trophy for Metal Gear Solid 4, ensured that my efforts to go against common sense will result in pain, and oddly willing to give it the old try are the other things, mostly, but yeah, 'not surprised' pretty much covers it.  I'm not...not really bitter, I would say, about the difficulty, but I am a little miffed at the delivery since it is just the slightest bit deceptive.  There is a slight bit of difference between outlining the goal to effectively warn the player and just saying "Get this" when the method to get whatever that is is overwhelmingly difficult.  Especially because I'm sure a lot of players will find themselves mired in far too deep in the end-task that, by the time they realize the full breadth, the full scope of the mission, it will either be a challenge that will quickly suck the fun out of what remains, or be the point where they violently rip the game from the console and shelve it.  So if nothing else, perhaps this was a bit of caution thrown your way before you plan on giving the list your own shot.

My Thoughts: Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale Line-Up

Now that we know that the game is officially a thing, but it lacks a roster to look at just yet (likely an E3 reveal), it gives us all an opportunity to have mini-arguments about who should be in the game and why.  And there's obvious characters out there that will be in the game, even if it's just a rumor at this point (Cole, Drake and Snake, looking at you three) which we don't even need to talk about.  But without knowing just how big the official roster (minus DLC) will be, that gives us quite the bit of space to work with in terms of just who and how many people will make it in.  Clearly, I like to make baseless, terrible predictions about things, so you know I'm going to get in on this, and I hope I don't whiff too many of the ideas here, though I admit openly that some of them are going to be more "Wouldn't it be cool" versus "What I actually think".

Who:  Crash Bandicoot

Why:  He's friggin' Crash Bandicoot.  Many a person's first experience with a Playstation console, and, for a time, one of the 'Unofficial' Playstation Mascots.

 

Now, I know I just said I didn't want to go with the obvious characters but, unfortunately, Crash might not be as obvious (or possible) a choice as you might think.  As many of us remember, Crash started out as a game brought to us all by Naughty Dog (who remains as a second-party studio to Sony to this day) and saw four titles released under their guidance (the three main Crash entries and Crash Team Racing) before the series went off to other companies and eventually other platforms such as the original XBox and GameBoy Advance and the DS.  Despite that, I imagine that Crash is a character that is still solidly associated with Sony Consoles, which would make him a good choice.  To that end, I would like to remind everyone of the commercials that featured Crash in that sort of Playstation Vs. Nintendo spot at the very least, which I'm sure a lot of us remember, if we haven't been pointed in that direction before.  As an added bonus, looking over the summary on Wikipedia leads me to think that Activision might have the IP rights who, as we all know, also have another series that could do to see an inclusion in the All-Stars.

As for his fighting style, being that my knowledge of Crash is...er...rather limited and vague, I'm not too sure on just what he'd be like.  Punches and kicks as standards, maybe a fruit-throwing move to give him some range, and a headstomp as an aerial attack.  Of course, I think that the movesets will be more focused towards what finishers and/or specials they have than anything else.  To that end, a callback to Crash Team Racing is a must, where he hops into a rally car and, well, drives around, taking out anyone in his way.  Everything else could be something of a wash, so long as he has that friggin' car to drive over some people, especially since I do believe that Crash Team Racing is quite highly regarded by racing and Crash fans alike.  Even going so far as to be the better Kart Racing game even when put up against Mario Kart, though I'm not sure just how much actual competition is there.

Who:  Cloud Strife

Why:  Because Squeenix sells, especially anything with a connection to Final Fantasy VII.  On top of that, you'll find a lot of people who got into RPGs out there specifically because of the game, which likely makes it one of Squeenix's most popular commodities.

Taking advantage of the fact that Third-Party characters have been confirmed to be in the game, this is the one I'm throwing down as a 'should' if not necessarily one that I think will be in.  There's no real two ways about it:  Final Fantasy VII and the Playstation 1 as a result of that was a massive success, and despite there being a PC port of the game (Yeah, you might not have known that.  I have a copy....somewhere.) many still think of it as a Playstation-exclusive game.  It helps that, from Seven to Twelve, the Final Fantasy series was pretty much Playstation-exclusive and even still leans more towards the Playstation brand while throwing ports here and there at the DS and GBA.  Cloud, I think, would be a big boon for the roster of the game, which is my primary reason for the suggestion, as I know his inclusion alone would put the game on a lot of radars.  Though, even if not specifically Cloud, I'll be surprised if there's not a presence from Squeenix at all; that being said, my second guess here would be Tidus from Final Fantasy X which was, as we know, the first FF game to come on the PS2, insanely popular (sales-wise), and is the only Final Fantasy game that is getting a PS3/Vita Port.

Cloud's (or Tidus', depending on who they go with) movelist would be, likely, the easiest one to make out of many of the possible entries, considering that fighting is kinda what he does.  As well as the whole Dissidia thing, which, while they wouldn't directly take that move-list, there's a good chance you'll see a lot of influence from it.  The Special Attacks are similarly easy as they could just be Limit Breaks corresponding to the levels that exist.  Omnislash (or the upgraded version) would be the Level 3, whereas Level 1 one could be Braver and Level 2 could be any of the Level 2 or 3 Limit Breaks like Blade Beam or Finishing Touch.  I mean, it pretty much writes itself here, so if nothing else, it would be incredibly easy.  Also flashy, which helps the game's overall look as well, being that they're really going for the flashy aspect.

Who:  Alucard

Why:  Because of a little game called Castlevania:  Symphony of the Night that saw a whole lot of success on the PSOne.

This one......okay, this one is a bit of a reach, admittedly.  Maybe even a -lot- of a reach, but, like Cloud, I imagine Alucard's inclusion in the game would be a big boon to it, even if he's not the most noted character.  That my only real reasoning is because of Symphony of the Night on PSOne (later on, having been redone in the Dracula X Chronicles for PSP, also known as "The game where you have to play that other Castlevania game to get SotN") and its cult-hit popularity is a bit telling, and while I'm not an uber-fan of the game, a lot of people -are-.  Which means that you cannot tell me that you don't know anybody whose ears wouldn't perk up at the mention of Alucard being included in Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale.  He even fits the general bill of inclusion, what with being an "All-Star" that happened to be featured in a "Playstation" game that was, as a bonus, incredibly popular.  Stranger things have happened, after all!

Similar to Cloud, I imagine Alucard's moveset wouldn't be all that difficult to imagine and implement, though it might end up a little 'strange' if it goes as I imagine.  Considering the wealth of weapons that appear in Symphony of the Night that Alucard wields, different attacks could simply be attached to the more-known ones there, as well as some of his latent son-of-Dracula powers, like the whole Fireball thing.  Then again, those powers might be better served for the specials, depending on just which ones they're anticipating on using.  Being that I don't think Alucard got to make use of Item Crashes, that leaves that out technically, but who knows.  Even outside of that, the special moves don't necessarily need to be actually from the game in which the character is possible, so long as it's something the character would obviously be able to use in certain situations where a lot of power is needed.  Regardless, I don't think there's a lot of "Gee, what can he do" when it comes to Alucard, were he to be in the game.

Obviously, these are just my predictions, and I admit that I did try and go for the more "Hmm" choices (Crash aside) rather than the obvious.  I might do another post about the more obvious choices (as in, things that use First or Second Party Characters), but for now, this is good.  Seeing as we're this close to E3 without some good leaks, it might be a slow news week anyways, and whether I get Resistance:  Burning Skies tomorrow or not is not a guarantee.  Though I will be getting the Gravity Rush demo and will have likely played it at least twice over by the time I sit down for a post.  Hmm.  I guess we'll see!

Vita's PSP/Minis Compatibility Sees An Update

Over at the Playstation Blog, there was a post just today about the expanding list of PSP/Minis Compatibility for the Vita and, of course, people are never happy.  I could surmise that if the post said "ALL PSP GAMES WORK ON IT, EVEN ONES NOT ON THE STORE BECAUSE THEY ARE NOW BY MAGIC", there would still be people to complain about it, if just for the fact that people will whine that they actually have to buy games.  Regardless, people aren't happy with the list, of course, because it doesn't feature a lot of games that, well, aren't on the Playstation Store to begin with.  Which is clearly Sony's fault, as there's no such thing as licensing issues or anything like that that are to be handled by Developer and Publisher.  Certainly not, everything is up to the single company that releases a product that several other people make things for.  If Angry Birds didn't work on someone's iPad, it's obviously Apple's fault, you see.

Snarkiness aside, I should go ahead and throw down the list now before I get into it anymore.  Point of reference and all.

Available Today

PSP Titles:
Cho Aniki Zero (Aksys Games Localization, Inc.)
Strikers 1945 Plus (PM Studios, Inc.)
Tom Clancy’S Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 (UbiSoft, Inc.)
Tom Clancy’S Rainbow Six: Vegas (UbiSoft, Inc.)
Valhalla Knights 2: Battle Stance (XSEED JKS, Inc.)
Ys: I & II Chronicles Digital (XSEED JKS, Inc.)

PSP minis:
Aero Racer (Halfbrick Studios)
Age Of Zombies (Halfbrick Studios)
Blast Off (Halfbrick Studios)
Dynogems (StormBasic)
Echoes (Halfbrick Studios)
Me Monstar: Hear Me Roar (Cohort Studios)
Vempire (Impressionware Srl)

Coming Soon

PSP Titles:
3D Twist & Match (Sanuk Games)
Aedis Eclipse: Generation Of Chaos Legacy (NIS America, Inc.)
Bejeweled 2 (Sony Online Entertainment LLC)
Beta Bloc (D3 Publisher of America)
Brain Challenge (Gameloft)
Dead Head Fred (D3 Publisher of America)
Field Commander (Sony Online Entertainment LLC)
Gods Eater Burst (D3 Publisher of America)
Groovin’ Blocks (Sony Online Entertainment LLC)
King Of Pool (Nordcurrent UAB)
Luxor: Pharaoh’S Challenge Umd Legacy (Mumbo Jumbo)
Major League Baseball 2K10 (2KGames)
Mercury Meltdown (Ignition Entertainment)
Mx Vs Atv Untamed (THQ, Inc.)
Peggle (Sony Online Entertainment LLC)
Prehistoric Isle (SNK PLAYMORE CORPORATION)
Puzzle Quest: Challenge Of The Warlords (D3 Publisher of America)
Reel Fishing: The Great Outdoors Legacy (Natsume, Inc.)
Split Second (Disney Interactive Studios)
Super Pocket Tennis (D3 Publisher of America)
The Red Star (XS Games, LLC)
Unbound Saga (Vogster Entertainment, LLC)
Undead Knights Digital (Tecmo Koei America Corporation)
Uno (Gameloft)
Untold Legends: Brotherhood Of The Blade (Sony Online Entertainment LLC)
Untold Legends: The Warrior’S Code French (Sony Online Entertainment LLC)
Work Time Fun (D3 Publisher of America)
WWE All Stars (THQ, Inc.)
WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2010 (THQ, Inc.)

PSP minis:
5 In 1 Solitaire (Digital Leisure)
Alien Zombie Death (PomPom Games)
Arcade Air Hockey & Bowling (Icon Games)
Babel: The King Of The Blocks (StormBasic)
Bashi Blocks (Icon Games)
Bermuda Triangle (SNK PLAYMORE CORPORATION)
Breakquest (Beatshapers)
Bubble Trubble (Creat Studios)
Card Shark (Laughing Jackal Ltd)
Carnivores: Ice Age (Beatshapers)
Cohort Chess (Cohort Studios)
Doodle Fit (Gamelion)
Doodle Pool (Big Head Games)
Duael Invaders (Laughing Jackal Ltd)
Enigmo (Beatshapers)
Family Games (Icon Games)
Farm Frenzy (Alawar Entertainment, Inc.)
Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock Of Firetop Mountain (Laughing Jackal Ltd)
Fly Fu (Invictus Games LTD.)
Galcon Labs (Beatshapers)
Gamocracy One : Legend Of Robot (AYEWARE / Bearded Ladies Consulting)
Gold Medalist (SNK PLAYMORE CORPORATION)
Guerrilla War (SNK PLAYMORE CORPORATION)
Hal 21 (SNK PLAYMORE CORPORATION)
Hero Of Sparta (Gameloft)
Hysteria Project 2 (Sanuk Games)
Ikari Warriors (SNK PLAYMORE CORPORATION)
Ikari Warriors Ii: Victory Road (SNK PLAYMORE CORPORATION)
Jelly Pops (PomPom Games)
Karimogi (StormBasic)
Labyrinth (Bigben Interactive, S.A.)
Let’S Golf (Gameloft)
Marvin’S Maze (SNK PLAYMORE CORPORATION)
Mecho Wars (Creat Studios)
Omg-Z! (Laughing Jackal Ltd)
One Epic Game (Grip Digital)
Ozma Wars (SNK PLAYMORE CORPORATION)
P.O.W. – Prisoners Of War (SNK PLAYMORE CORPORATION)
Pipe Madness (AYEWARE / Bearded Ladies Consulting)
Pix N Love Rush (Sanuk Games)
Psycho Soldier (SNK PLAYMORE CORPORATION)
Red Bull X-Fighters (Xendex)
Rumble Trucks (Playerthree Ltd)
Street Smart (SNK PLAYMORE CORPORATION)
The 2D Adventures Of Rotating Octopus Character (Dakko Dakko Ltd.)
The Impossible Game (Grip Digital)
The Marbians (Nordisk Film Distribution A/S)
Twin Blades (Sanuk Games)
Vanguard Ii (SNK PLAYMORE CORPORATION)
Wackylands Boss (Creat Studios)
Yetisports (Xendex)
Zombie Racers (Big Head Games)

So as you can see there is -quite a bit- that's on the list, though the bulk of them are Minis which, let's face it:  They're important too.  I don't really care for them from the little bit I've been exposed to them (Young Thor, Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess), but they are every bit representative of developer effort as everything else, and the fact that they have to get ESRB rated, thus raising their price a little is unfortunate, but not something exactly controllable.  Regardless, more content on the Vita Store is just that, and it's always welcome, I'm sure we can all agree.  Even if you might not personally care for what that content is, since as we know, content you don't personally care about is useless.

Now, if you take a look at the lists of PSP games, both available today and soon, you might start noticing that there's kind of a little pattern in the publishers in that most of the games have that in common.  There are a couple of publishers that only have one game in the overall list, but it -might- make sense that this is something that Sony has to work directly with the Developer/Publisher over, meaning that batches of entire back-catalogs get moved through in a clip to be added to a list as the one above.  You know, just maybe that's how it works instead of the veritable monkey house that everyone thinks it is apparently.  It isn't that outlandish to suspect that there might be unseen organization to matters like this.

Of course, if I'm correct about the Publishers/Developers link to the whole situation, then that would possibly explain why some notables, namely Sega, Squeenix and Konami, aren't really up there, but at the same time, there's a good chance that there are other reasons compounding that.  Sega, as you know, is kind of in the middle of nearly going kaput in such a fashion that they've had to pretty much gut their American and European branches in the name of 'restructuring' for the future of 'focusing on digital releases', meaning something like licensing disputes or registrations (if it's something as small as that keeping their games like Phantasy Star Portable 2 and Valkyria Chronicles 2 off the store proper) might not be high up to get attention right now, despite it ultimately leading towards making money.  Squeenix, as we all know, has a real aversion towards digital things and have only recently started to lighten up on that and Konami.....well, hell, I dunno about that.  Maybe they're next up, or their games are still being worked on.

As we all know, however, it's kind of hard to trust a list for this sort of thing, no matter what company it is representing it.  So good money is on the list changing in some form before it's all filled out on the store (I imagine games will be uploaded in batches over the next couple of weeks), but which way is hard to know.  The easier bet is on games being removed from it rather than anything else being added, but there have been several surprises before and, remember, the list is only for games that will be fully, officially compatible, as in available directly from the Vita store itself.  Currently, there's games like, well, Valkyria Chronicles 2, that aren't available from the Vita storefront, but are playable on it if you use your PS3 as a bridge to get it on there and then put it on your Vita.  With any luck, some of the games we all want might even be made available by this method that currently aren't.  But either way, it's obvious that it's getting worked on, at least, which is reassuring.

What's the Time? It's Time to Get Chill!

So, I had a pretty Chill day today.  And I was thinking, "Say, there's a lot of games out there that you play when you just wanna chill out and relax", so, especially since I played one of those all day, I figured what better to do a post about than them?  Re-lyric the above song in your head at your leisure, of course, or feel free to skip it entirely.  I just always say that when it is time to Chill.

Harvest Moon, as a series, is pretty much the quintessential "Chill" game.  There's as much or as little depth to it as you want there to be, and, with most of the games (the really non-narrative ones, at least, which are the ones that count) it's all up to you on what you want to do.  The basic goal is pretty clear, of course.  Usually, the game wants you to be the ultimate farmer, build up your farm, clear your lands, raise crops and livestock, that sort of thing, but if you don't?  No real immediate consequences.  Say ore mining and hitting on the Mayor's daughter is more your thing.  Well, this is a thing you can do.

Bust out your fishing rod (Once you've acquired it from somewhere or someone) and spend all day fishing if you want.  Sell the fish, cook 'em, eat 'em or give them to someone who may or may not appreciate the gesture, it's all fair game.  While there are always little bits of story intermingled here and there (from the bare-bones "Rival Events", to oftentimes more driving things, more interaction with the people around town to find out something they need or want, where you can then give it to them or decide against it), the broadest strokes of the story are the ones you make for yourself.

It's very much a game series that you play in your head more than not, and that's pretty much the true beauty to it.  It's not overcomplicated at all, unless you make it that way, but even then it's easy enough to just step back, relax, and let it run.  And while they're not always the games you want to play, they'll always be there when you do, ready to let you start right back where you left off, or all over again, since sometimes going back to scratch is just as fun as anything else.

Animal Crossing is another of these series, and one that I never really got exposed to until way too late into it.  As I've said time and time before, I completely skipped the Game Cube, and Animal Crossing and the Skies of Arcadia remake are pretty much the two main games that bring me close to regretting it.  Had I had Animal Crossing back when it was new, back when it was on Game Cube, I likely would have fell in love with it, as I have with the Harvest Moon series.

And while I speak as if I don't love the series, I sort of have to; since my only real dip into it is with the DS version, which most speak of with grumbles, as well as the Wii version (which I also own but have never really played.)  On top of those two games being, by-and-large, the same game, they try too hard, but not enough, to be the Game Cube version, or so I'm told.  And through it all, there's just something missing, especially when you compare it to the Harvest Moon games in levels of 'Chill-i-tude'.  My word.

If I had to guess, I would suggest that the trademark lack of romance is part of that; not that you'd want to romance anything in Animal Crossing, of course.  Being the sole human in a town of humanoid animals is the thing of nightmares for most of us, but it never gets that bad, thankfully.  But it's something that I notice in the more narrative Harvest Moons as well, when you can't actually romance anybody.  There's no real feel of relationship building in those games, and while there is some in Animal Crossing, in that you can tell who are your friends and who are not so much, that's about it.

But that might not be the whole of it.  To say that Animal Crossing as a series isn't that great would be a lie, of course.  It's a good series on its own, and definitely fulfills the Chill criteria, as you can basically do whatever you wish without any real repercussions.  I just think that it needs a little something, and hopefully Animal Crossing 3DS does a little to add to the mix, rather than continuing down the Pokemon path of keeping the same things that hamper it while making it shinier and adding superfluous things.  Will I neglect to buy AC 3DS if it doesn't add much?  Probably not.  But I can dream.

What would an article about games that let you do, essentially, whatever you want be without a mention of The Sims series?  Unquestioningly the most popular franchise in what I would call the "Chill" series of games, or the Chill genre, millions of people have played at least one Sims game and understood the allure of governing the lives of a virtual family, sometimes loosely, sometimes strictly and for their own good, and sometimes out of pure sadism.  Yes, anyone who says they've played the Sims for an extended period of time and claims that they didn't kill one of them is a liar of the highest caliber. 

The game could not likely be any easier.  You can build a house for your sims or just buy/download a pre-built one for them to live in and then, well, facilitate their living for however long or short you would like to.  You can make your sims rise to the tops of their chosen professions, or have them wallow in their own filth while the repossession people come and slowly take everything they have to pay for the bills.  With the expansions comes even more options for careers or side activities and the mod options allow for limitless creation thanks to the power of the internet.

Of course, The Sims doesn't have the same lack of relationship issue that Animal Crossing has and, if anything, provides more there than any other game on the market.  You can have one of your sims be, quite simply, a pimp or pimpette of the highest order, with every eligible bachelor or bachelorette on speed-dial, ready to head over for a little hot tub fun at the press of a button.

If anything, though, I'd say it's the complete freedom of The Sims that creates, eventually, a complete lack of focus when playing it, and you eventually stop playing it, so much as you're stalling to try and figure out what you want to happen next.  Sure, your main sim is a CEO now, but, well, now what?  Maybe a kid?  But before a kid, you should probably have him with someone, but who?  All those people, all those options, which one will be around for your main sim's son and/or daughter while he's off at work?  Or maybe he could just quit and start another career?  Etc.  Etc.  Etc.

Still, any game in these series will likely find a way to eat straight hours of your life, should you let it, and there's absolutely nothing wrong in doing so.  Sometimes you just need to, even, to remind yourself that games aren't always about the goal, and sometimes just about the journey and the experiences you can have along the way.

Flash Games - Tower Defense Edition

Now, I'm not much of a Tower Defense fan.  But I can begrudgingly admit that they're not terrible games, and that the strategies are rather nice.  My problem usually rests in the slight random chances that lie into them, and the feeling that I get that there's sometimes no way to 100% of the time, finish a level perfectly.  It always seems like there's that -one- wave towards the start where you're like "I NEED MORE TOWERS" but you just don't have the gold for it.  And there's really no way you could -have- the gold unless you've found the magical layout that ensures efficiency.

Regardless, they're effective little time-wasters as games, and I would even call some of them fun, but most of them seem mostly there as a challenge than....well, something fun.  Still, I have played a few that I would be able to recommend.  Even if 'tower defense' is sort of a stretched term for one of them.

First up is Cursed Gems: Don't Touch My Stuff, which I just spent the last hour and a half playing when I became aware of the fact that playing some Kongregate games gets you points for your Powered Up Rewards, apparently.  Get a badge, get GameStop points that will likely sit in your account forever because the rewards either suck or are presented at a radical price increase.  But hey, you get Badges and Points!  Win-Win, kind of!

Er, anyways, right the game.  It's pretty much your standard fare, waves launch your towers kill, magic happens.  Where it changes the 'formula' is that it gives you different terrain types on a map, and your three towers can only be built on specific ones, one each.  Your grass lands are your Orc Huts which are basically arrow towers.  Mountainous regions only support.....y'know, I forget.  They fire a continuous stream laser.  And your snowy regions are your Crypts, which fire magical bolts that I don't know what to liken them to.  Homing missiles?  Yeah, let's go with that.

That level of difference adds something to the gameplay, and they add another depth with Magic and, of all things, Trees.  The trees fill up parts of the map that you have to use one of your spells to clear out, if you want to place a tower there.  This is almost universally unnecessary, unless the trees are covering a mana font, which, placing a tower on it will increase your mana recovery.  Or the entire map is covered with trees.  But, as noted, there are some times when it's a necessity.

Of your other two spells, one increases the speed with which your towers fire for a couple volleys, and the other is a Meteor spell that deals big damage to an area.  The former is almost never needed, as the only reason your towers aren't doing the job is because they're not properly condensed/upgraded, and is never something a Meteor can't take care of.  The Meteor also being useful for Goddamn Ninjas and your large, boss characters helps speak for its value.

It quickly starts to feel like they're just throwing entirely too many waves of enemies at you, but proper upgrading and masterful use of both the "Skip to next wave" and "Double-Time" buttons make it go by at a much nicer speed for those who just want to finish the engagements.  And it's practically for those reasons only that I can safely say it's a pretty alright game, since most TD games (at least ones I've played) don't have that and almost always get a little down-timey unless they just really destroy you with the amounts of enemies in waves.

The next game, Desktop TD Pro is actually pretty neat in its presentation and execution both.  Now, I'm not quite sure how it was thought up, but if you start thinking about an ARI Glasses version of the game (considering the Desktop layout) it gets so much neater.  Of course, this is still just played on a computer screen, but, still, it makes you think about these things and these things are pretty cool.  There I go, talking about things that are -not the game-.

Anyways, what I like about the game, aside from the thoughts it gives me, is the fact that it gives you a flat board (Sometimes it puts towers in for you to start) and lets you set your own paths that the enemies have to survive through.  So you always think of the best way to make this winding, painful conga line of death scenario, and the fact that you actually can do it is refreshing, as opposed to other games giving you the routes and you having to place within those confines.

Of course, eventually, they include enemies that completely ignore your confines and fly over the towers, but before then, oh boy, do you feel like you are some sort of tactical genius.  And once again, there is the much appreciated "Next Wave" button.  Maybe it's actually standard fare and I just completely miss it every time?

Now, this next one might be stretching the term a bit, but I still consider it to count:  The Last Stand. Your towers, of course in this, being your fellow survivors that you recruit.  But that might be getting ahead of myself in stating that.  The Last Stand, unsurprisingly, is about the main character's last stand against waves and waves of Zombies.  It plays out like a more hands-on Tower Defense game, you have your barricade line that you have to stop zombies from reaching and, upon failing that, stop them from wrecking it outright.

They come in waves through the night portion of the game, rationalizing the daytime section of the game is you dividing your remaining hours among yourself and any survivors you might have to repair the barricade, look for weapons, and look for other survivors.  The latter two have a chance of losing someone along the way, which will often happen at the -worst possible moment-, but the rewards for searching for weapons are great, as the Pistol outgrows its usefulness....rather quickly.

Enemies upgrade just like any other Tower Defense game; they get faster, and they get hardier.  Both running zombies and zombie dogs are added for the fast requirement, and Swat/Army zombies for the hardier; both require headshots, but the Army zombies also have helmets on, which means faceshots.  And if you don't pick up any survivors to help you blast the undead, you'll likely get overrun.  Even if you get the best weapons, if it's just you, it likely ain't enough.

So there are a few Tower Defense games that I've enjoyed, or at least can recommend to people who enjoy the genre.  Certainly those of us reigned into it by PixelJunk Monsters need another outlet here and there, one that doesn't have the goddamn spiders of PJM, at least.

Goddamn Spiders.