The PocketStation is Back...?

If you know what the PocketStation is, it's likely because you had to look it up at some point in the past, since exposure of it outside of Japan was...rather limited.  Essentially, remember the VMU for the Dreamcast?  Of course you do, because you're a good person and you owned a Dreamcast because the Dreamcast was awesome.  The VMU was the memory unit for the console and had a little screen and buttons because certain games had little mini-games that you could do while you were out and about to earn you rewards in the main game.  A more recent example would be the PokéWalker included in Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver - you transferred a Pokémon to the device before you went about for a walk or what have you and that built up points that you could spend on searching for items or Pokémon that you had a chance to catch right there on the walker, all of which would be transferred back to your DS game.

Anyway, the PocketStation is conceptually the same thing as these, presumably because the PocketStation and VMU were likely fashioned off of one of the other - I'm not sure which since I believe the PocketStation was announced first, but the VMU was released first.  At least, it seems that way.  Regardless, they both serve to fill the exact same purpose for two different devices, and the PocketStation is getting a breath of new life on the Vita.  The app will allow you to play the Mini-Games for the PSOne games that you own, meaning that all those little bits of extra content that were previously out of reach due to emulation are now possible....for the people in Japan.  There's no real indication if this will come out of Japan, and while I would be willing to believe it will, I have no idea why.  It never came out here before, but unless there's translation work needed in the mini-games, everything should be fairly universal.  NA PSOne games were apparently programmed with the functionality since it was assumed that Sony would eventually localize the device, so it would be cool to finally be able to tap into that, if only for the novelty.

I can't help but be a little underwhelmed, however.  It's neat and it's novel and I respect it, but it's something that's just sort of -there-.  It's a known quantity.  When there were teases of a PocketStation-like announcement, I was hoping for something a little grander.  Personally, my hope was for some PS4 games to have space set aside to be able to send a little mini-game to your Vita that you could play on the go if you weren't able to Remote Play your PS4 game.  I understand it sort of flies counter to the things they've established in that the Vita can totally just -play- your PS4 games, but it would be neat if I could, say, transfer some inFamous:  Second Son-inspired mini-game to my Vita, play it, and come back with some experience towards a power, or maybe something a little more esoteric.  Maybe it would've been something that lets you pick an 'element' from your house or nature or what have you (which would fit into a pre-set canned list, of course), bring that back and give Delsin that suite of powers.  Take a picture of a neon light and give him the Photokinesis set, or take a picture of a tree to give him some sort of Ecokinesis.  You see where I'm going with this.

That would have been cool.  Sure, it's basically just the PocketStation concept done with a modern-day set of paint so to speak, but it would've been enjoyable.  It's a throw-away thing, obviously, but the novelty would've been nostalgic enough of the PocketStation without literally just emulating that.  Still, I'll be pleased enough to download it should it come out in North America (for free, as it is in Japan) and enjoy it, but I just will wish that it was something more.  But who knows, maybe it's just something tossed out there to get people familiar with the concept again and maybe someone will do what I wanted and modernize it.  Stranger things have happened lately, you can't deny that much.

basically it all just goes back to me wanting inFamous on my goddamn Vita COME ON

All in the Cards - It's Triple Triad Talk Time

Alright.  I know I said last night that I would talk abut some games getting a release date and such tonight, but I just spent the last hour and a half save scumming Final Fantasy 8 on my Vita solely for Triple Triad-purposes, so I'm going to talk about that tonight.  Because I'm just gonna.  After all, as you all might remember or might have noticed, I have a whole little 'genre' of posts, I suppose you could say, that is dedicated solely to the discussion of cards and/or card-based games titled appropriately "All in the Cards".  As this post itself has that branding, I am furthering this idea and such, and just interested in really talking about Triple Triad tonight.  Even though it's my first time in a -long- time playing the game, I'm already getting some sense of 'nostalgia' sweeping back and after a rocky start, I've settled into a strategy that will generally have me win or, at worst, draw.  Defeats were few and far between when I started getting cards tonight at least, but again, I didn't keep those because I am a save scumming cheaterbaby.

Anyways, I'm up to 27 unique cards from the 7 you're handed at the start of the game should you chose to talk to the first non-story-important person (barring the three students in the classroom) you come across, with about three of those cards having duplicates to them.  (One of them, in fact, having two dupes.)  This is progress since that, in itself, means 31 wins, since the only winning rule I've encountered so far, what with being at the very start of the game is "One", meaning simply you pick -one- card from the loser's hand to take for your very own.  I cannot recall the other rules off-hand, but I suspect there's an "All" and then another rule that only allows you to pick from cards you actually 'flipped', but that's mostly conjecture on my part.  I don't remember the rules of Triple Triad so much as the very basic aspect of strategy I thought of years ago (which was not very strategic) and very basics as to how the game is played.

For those of you that don't know or don't remember how to play Triple Triad, I can offer a nice little primer here using the screenshot above as a basis.  As you can see, the playfield is a three by three grid, totaling nine squares in all.  Each player picks five cards for their hand which are revealed in normal circumstances, leaving it as more a game of understanding the strengths of your cards and the probabilities of how the other player is going to play his.  If you look at the cards, each one has four numbers (ignore the A) which reflects upon each side of the card.  So taking the Tonberry card on the right side, the top border is 4, the left border is 4, the right border is 6 and the bottom border is 7.  The goal is to use those numbers to 'flip' placed cards by being higher than them.  (There's another way to do it as well, but I've found it very situational and haven't pulled it off myself)  It's a quick and easy to understand game in that sense, but it offers a depth that's...rather deceptive.

So let's sort of visualize that game as it could play out, try to follow along if you would.  For the purposes of this, let's imagine Red won the right to go first and does so by placing their Tonberry in the upper left corner, playing on that cards fairly high numbers for the right and bottom borders, which are the only ones exposed.  Blue responds by throwing their Moogle under it, using the 9 on the top border to flip it.  Red retaliates by placing the 5574 thing (can't figure its name at the moment) to the right of the Moogle using the 4 of the left border to flip the Moogle since the Moogle's right border is 3.  At this point, Red is ahead since of the three cards on the board placed, two of them are his color.  Blue evens this up by throwing their Tonberry in the top middle since 7 > 5.  This is pretty much the precise moment that Red has lost, mind you, since Red does not have a card that can flip a Blue card that's on the board, yet Blue still has a few really strong cards in hand.  Buer, Anaconda (That's not the name, I don't think, but it's close) and Grendel can be flipped from just about any position playable by Ifrit and the soldier, so the only matter is placing the cards to see just how much Blue wins -by-.

Triple Triad is certainly a game governed by the cards where you can tend to win by overwhelming force.  It's all about utilizing which sides your cards are strong with when the situation calls for it.  Corner cards, as in cards that have two strong borders at a right angle are very good for defensive starts, since it ensures you can place a card down without losing one if you're so inclined.  Ifrit is a good example of this as with a border of 9 and 8, you could put it in the bottom right corner and not really worry unless your opponent has a card with a 9 or an A on the right border.  (A, I believe, is All, as in beats everything, even a 9.  Not sure about another A)  Regardless, higher numbers are better as Triple Triad is a game about putting down cards with higher numbers than the cards you put them down next to.  To that effect, I don't think there is a realistic scenario in the above screenshot where Red -could- win unless Blue....just...played like an idiot.  Blue's cards are just that much better.

Every card -does- have a weakness, however, as you can see above; cards with two considerably strong sides tend to have weaker edges to make up for it (more the Moogle than....say, Ifrit), so you do have to consider that when you're picking out your hand.  You almost have to visualize how you want to control the board before you pick to think of a strategy, and then it also relies on luck partially, depending on if your strategy accounts for you placing first or not.  The best-laid plans can be destroyed by this because you only have so many cards and so many places to put them where they'll make a real, honest difference.  Say Blue's strategy solely relied on throwing Ifrit down in the right corner to start (and didn't have super awesome cards on top of that, say Ifrrit is the best card Blue has) and Red goes first and does that instead.  If Red's Right corner card has a left border that is a 6 or higher, then bam, that strategy is potentially ruined.  You can still play Ifrit to the left of that card, as the worst that can happen is you -don't- flip it (and use its border as a corner to protect its middling 6) and you'll still have the 9 and 8 facing out, but that could very well be the first step to a Draw, depending on how it works out.

Fans have long joked that Triple Triad honestly kind of -needs- to be its own game and I'm certainly one of the folks echoing that statement.  It's...kind of perfect as a pick-up-and-play game, which would make it perfect in this sort of gaming culture we've crafted out for ourselves.  Release it as a relatively cheap 'hub' app, sell boosters as "DLC", though with the ability to earn cards through winning (both against human and computer opponents) and bam.  That, my friends, is a money farm right there that has yet to be sown.  Though, knowing Squeenix's practices, they'd sell the Triple Triad game itself (with like a minimal starter set of cards) for $30, price each card individually at $1.99-$4.99 and wonder why nothing's selling.  Still, we have the game itself as is within each copy of Final Fantasy 8, and for the price of $9.99, that's...quite a bargain.  I mean, I know I'm not alone in people who have loaded up FF8 -just- to play Triple Triad.  I'm far from an outlier in this, and that's kind of amazing, I think.

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!

Vita's PSOne Support Inbound....Kinda

So, in most parts of the world, the 1.80 update, which is talked about in the above video is either live (personally, mine is downloading as I type this) or on its way, assuredly.  As I brought up back on the 14th, the star of the 1.80 show is the PSOne Support and, as suspected, it seems that it's going to be a gradual process of opening up, rather than a whole lot of stuff magically working right off.  At least...that's how it seems to be for North America and not so much for PAL territories which is certainly.....certainly a thing, I suppose.  No one seems to know why there is such a giant disparity, but there's probably a few things to be addressed before going into that further.  This one's a real head-scratcher as always, and pretty much all I have to go on is what I've read so far, less I want to put this post out a half-hour from now when my update finishes and I get to test it myself.  That, I suspect, will just be an update after I get a firm grasp on it all.

So, something to address right off is that, for as great as the PAL list is, I don't see Xenogears on it (nor do I know if it's either on their store) so nyeh, take that.  (I'm so sorry, Xenogears was pretty much the only thing I wanted to DL right up-front, but I guess I'll fall back on FFVII)  In all seriousness, however, the lists do appear to be deceiving, not only for us, but for the PAL-land as well, presumably because the update has come up before the announced dates of the 28th and the 29th.  For instance, I've heard some statements claiming that some games aren't on the list, yet downloadable, versus some are on the list, but cannot be gotten by the conventional method of getting it right on your Vita.  I say this because, as with the PSP library (and it persists now, really) some titles can be gotten on your Vita if you have a PS3 to go along with it and serve as a content gathering machine.

The process is as simple as getting on your PS3, downloading the PSOne game of your choosing, NOT INSTALLING IT, and instead transferring that bubble that you install the game with to your Vita, presumably through the content manager.  This is not fool-proof, of course, as the game has to be a game that can be played on the PSOne emulator that the Vita is being out-fitted with.  For reasons unknown to everyone, certain games (this is true with PSP as well) simply are kept back, presumably to be tweaked more for best performance with the emulator, but are still in a very playable state if you can get them.  This list proves to be a lot larger than the 9 titles we have, I'm told and is probably on par or thereabouts with the PAL list.  If you're willing to put in that amount of effort, of course which, you might guess, I am not.  Call me silly or what have you, but I'm more than happy to wait for the titles to be 'officially' touted before I get in there and get attached once more.  I assume they will do this as they've done with the PSP games in recent weeks; thrown them in the new releases section even though they are hardly new at all, simply because they are probably new to play for plenty of people.

It's not ideal, of course, and I'm positive there will be so much whinging and "Oh lord, Sony is incompetent" and blah blah blah, rabble rabble, but it's all just hilarious to me, as there is honestly pretty much a triple-standard at play here and nobody seems to realize it, nor care.  For some, it's simply 'too much' that this wasn't here at launch and they will not let up beyond that.  Others, they harp on that it took so long, but understand it wasn't a thing that could be done.  Then the last caste gripe that it took too long -and- there are only these titles officially supported at the front-end of it.  So no matter what, they're annoyed that it took 'this long', so if it worked perfectly, they'd still bitch, meanwhile, there are people who bitch for the sake of it and etc. etc.  There's just no substance to it, and if anything, push me to be more passive to it all than anything.  Snarky people say "Heh, it's such a big thing for the Vita to play ten-year old games" and then complain that they cannot play their favorite ten-year old game on it right away and I'm just not sure where these people find the time to complain, really.  Between Gravity Rush, Treasures of Montezuma Blitz and a plethora of PSP games (not to mention the Youtube App), I've discovered that I don't have enough hours in a day for -anything-, much less whinging about things for no reason.

Do I get it on some level?  Of course.  I want to play Xenogears, and I wanted to play it like two months ago, but my real recourse is to just fish out my disks and play them on one of my consoles that will allow such a thing, or purchase it digitally for my PS3 (which if I'm playing anything on, it's Sleeping Dogs or Lollipop Chainsaw).  Or buy a new PSP since my good ol' 1000 is borked nine ways from Sunday.  I have all these options at my disposal, but since I prefer the one where I get to play Xenogears on that lovely screen of my Vita, I can wait.  Patiently.  I'm not really sure what part of this is a difficult concept, especially since holding back the update until all the titles are compatible means it probably wouldn't come out for months.  Regardless, it's not like I don't have a wealth of things to do on my Vita, so the fact that I won't be able to play Xenogears on it tonight, tomorrow or the next day isn't really a factor for me.  It'll get resolved enough soon enough for the rest of the folks, I'm sure, so once again it's simply a big to-do for the sake of it.

Update!:  Well, I can download Final Fantasy VII and probably will.  Honestly, that's fine enough for me for now.  The whole thing is pretty well-documented by now, but it's not really that big a deal unless you're a giant baby working for Joystiq in charge of most of the Mobile Gaming posts and clearly have a hate boner for all things not on a cell phone. Not that I'm bitterly pointing fingers at anyone who's being a jerk about the situation just because he can be for some page hits from the lowest common denominator that will just agree with him despite the intricacies involved.

Gamescom News Dump - Vita Edition

So, Sony's Gamescom presser was today and many people, especially myself, hoped that it would bring good tidings for Sony's latest handheld, though I imagine most were expecting not.  In a rare moment of catharsis, us expectant people were given quite a bit to hold onto, where the people expecting to be able to gloat were left with precious little ammunition to actually launch, leaving what they said rather sad, instead of something that could be arguably grounded.  Indeed, it was a good showing for Sony all around, as New IP after New IP were announced, including Rain and Until Dawn as hoped, though certainly not in the incarnations expected.  Regardless, they're PS3 games, which I will focus on tomorrow as tonight is the Vita night.  It is a night for me to celebrate for having something fairly unequivocally positive for the overlooked little handheld slice of gaming heaven.  These nights have not been as scant as you would have been lead to believe, but they have been too rare regardless.

Instead of starting with what is arguably the biggest bit of news to come from the conference, I'm instead going to focus on the above pictured game first.  That game is Tearaway.  It is adorable and magical.  No surprise, it is being made by Media Molecule, the folks behind the lovely and charming LittleBigPlanet series that you know I have a particular fondness for.  I had no idea that Media Molecule was actually working with the Vita and the knowledge that they were filled me with all sorts of glee, even before I saw Tearaway and it only amplified thereafter.  Because seriously, watch this trailer and tell me it is not magical because I posit that it is not only magical, but double-magical because not only is it very obviously Media Molecule doing what they do, but they're also doing something rather wonderful with the Vita's controls if you look at the trailer.  While a lot of people whinge about motion controls and the like not being utilized properly, I would posit that Tearaway uses them in all the right ways, screaming at your screen aside.

Tearaway puts you in the shoes of a little papercraft dude called iota, who has a very, very important message to deliver.  Of course being a world of fantasy and a video game, he faces hardships along the way and that is where you, the player, come in, though in more of a role than one would normally think.  Not only do you control iota, but at times your direct interaction with certain things, like the microphone or the touch screens has a very blatant effect on the world.  Touching the rear touch screen thrusts your finger into the world, as if the paper dimension, being as 2D as it is, exists purely between the two screens of the Vita.  You can use that finger to sweep aside enemies, switch switches or perhaps even offer something for iota to jump on for platforming puzzles if I'm not mistaken.  This is just what was shown in the little trailer, of course, so it's possible that there are all sorts of other uses.  Certainly, the front screen gets some love too as, at one point, you're tasked with cutting out a shape on the front screen in the shape of a crown, though it's pretty safe to assume that you do not -have- to conform to a crown.  I'll leave that one up to your imaginations.

There's no real information on Tearaway beyond what's in the trailer, but what is there will suffice for now, I suppose.  I would like if there was some sort of window in 2013 when this comes out (as I seriously doubt it'll make the end of the year), but January, to fill the LittleBigPlanet gap (Since LBP2 came out mid-way through that month) would be exceptionally nice, though I won't hold my breath.  With LittleBigPlanet Vita coming out next month, I can honestly hold off a little more than I could otherwise, since I intend on having that game in my Vita non-stop for a good clip after I get it.  Everything else will likely be put on the backburner after that unless there is something really big that I am completely forgetting, which is entirely possible since my blinders kind of go on when I talk about the Vita and LittleBigPlanet, so doubly so for LBPV.  Regardless, more magic is always appreciated.  For it is always magical.

So, with that out of the way, it should be said that the big news is that the next Vita Firmware update, 1.80, finally has a date for you to look for - August 28th.  That post doesn't specifically say the 28th, rather saying late August, but it was apparently stated as such during the conference, so barring delays, look for it then.  The post also does not specify whether a good portion of the back library will be supported from the get-go, or if it will be a gradual process as is the tail-end of the PSP back-log addition.  Many, many people will gripe if it is the latter and perhaps slightly rightly so, but this is not a simple matter of "Put data on Vita, wiggle fingers as it magically works".  It is an emulator, and as we have all discovered at times, emulators are not the most reliable of things and especially when it concerns something rather expensive like a PS3 or a Vita, you want to ensure that the testing it thorough to see that each game will not buckle under the stress of running it as well as some other applications, possibly.  Since that is a main feature of the Vita and all - running several things all at once.  And games tend to take a lot of resources regardless.

While PSOne Compatibility is the main point of 1.80, it's not the only point, of course, though it certainly overshadows the other things.  Possibly the next highest thing on the list is the Cross Controller ability which allows you to use your Vita as a PS3 controller, particularly for things that have specifically announced it like LittleBigPlanet 2 and Guacamelee.  I would assume, however, that it leaves the door open for other games to have some functionality patched in, should developers be so inclined to do so.  It is a brand new field, of course and so long as you can suffer the people whining about 'copying', then you'll likely be golden no matter what, even if it doesn't get supported wholesale.  One would suggest that what it -does- get will be pretty neat regardless, but we'll just have to see when something comes out.  Well...something other than LittleBigPlanet 2's functionality because no way will I be able to be unbiased there.

Also included in the 1.80 update is just some miscellany, nothing too big.  People have been complaining about -having- to use the touch screens to navigate the Vita's LiveArea, so it will include the ability to control the screens with the actual controls.  I'm not sure if this involves a cursor like arrow, highlighting or simply the ability to shift between screens with the controls where you still have to launch with your finger.  Or, you know, something else; it's hard to tell since I haven't thought about it and probably won't be using it.  Aside from that, you'll be able to import playlists from iTunes and other such formats, control the web browser with the back screen as well as the front should you so desire, and have slightly more options when watching videos downloaded onto your Vita.  And finally, Near might finally be fixed in a way that helps people like -me- who are stuck on wi-fi that is not near location data from Skyhook to actually use it.  I'd dig it.

There was all sorts of other Vita announcements worth mentioning today of course, so I'll go ahead and run through those quickly and get off here to go lay down or play on my Vita or something.  Worth mentioning right out is that a new initiative called "Cross-Buy" is officially a thing for all games (that come from Sony, at least) that will be on both the PS3 and Vita.  Say you're interested in picking up the new Sly game or the just announced version of Ratchet and Clank:  Full-Frontal Assault on the Vita, but you also want it on your PS3.  Using some simple math and averages, $60 for the PS3 version and $40 for the Vita means you're spending $100 on, essentially the same game (even though extra copies are always handled separately, etc. etc. blah blah, not getting into that argument tonight).  Well, with the Cross-Buy initiative, if you buy the game on the PS3, you're then entitled to a digital version of it for your Playstation Vita as well, free-of-charge.  It works one-way only, of course, as you can't opt for the cheaper Vita version and get the $100 value like that.  At current, only Playstation All-Stars, Sly Cooper:  Thieves in Time and Ratchet and Clank:  Full Frontal Assault are announced for the Cross-Buy initiative, but more games are on the way that will support it.

Beyond that and the earlier announcements, Call of Duty:  Black Ops Declassified finally got a gameplay trailer that looks strangely familiar.  Though why that is, I'm not sure I can put a finger on it....hmm.  Oh, right, announced today was the fact that the game was handed off to Nihilistic Studios to develop instead of Activision even using one of their own B-teams.  Which is...well, I won't even touch how annoying that is, because I'm sure you understand that it is very annoying and I shouldn't have to accentuate that.  Now, if you're wondering just why Nihilistic Studios and the game have have anything in common that would make it look familiar, let me go ahead and end that wonder right now and state it:  Nihilistic Studios was the developer behind Resistance:  Burning Skies which I said to be decent, but not great and this looks...well, very similar.  If Burning Skies was any metric to go by, then perhaps CODBOD (That's a thing now, I made it a thing) might not be the Call of Duty game that the Vita wants, nor deserves.  Here's hoping NS learns, though, but...well, don't expect it.

Finally, the last of the announcements is another First Person Shooter, but one that is decidedly -not- being developed by Nihilistic Studios, and I daresay that it shows.  Killzone: Mercenary was shown off and looks fairly impressive for assuredly being an early build of the game.  Killzone:  Mercenary seems to take its title a little literally, as apparently in the game you will not be fighting for the ISA or the Helghast forces specifically, at least, not for the whole game.  Yes, as a Mercenary, you'll be able to fight on both sides of the battle, doing whatever you can to earn money and weapons for taking out targets and/or just doing whatever you're asked of.  I'm not quite sure as to what level of control you'll have over your contracts and price tag, but fighting on both sides of the war seems novel enough.  And it doesn't look like ass or anywhere near it which might have something to do with using the engine from Killzone 3.  Certainly, if you're looking for a FPS on the Vita, this is the game you'll want to firmly plant on your radar.

So, that was about it from Gamescom.  I'd say that is a hefty bit of news, especially when you consider that that is literally just half of it, as there was all sorts of PS3 news going on as well.  I'll get into that tomorrow unless something comes up, but with any luck, I'll be able to just keep rolling with things.  But for now, I'm going to put a few extra touches on my Sound Shapes level and post it up on the community, provided it actually works as it did earlier, finally allowing me to play some community levels.  That....weren't exactly worth the wait.  But whatever, blah blah, fun news for the Vita everything is wonderful, magic is everywhere, etc. etc. etc.  Gonna be a busy rest of the year, assuredly, but that's just the way we like it.  Most of the time at least.

E3 Rumor: Playstation Plus Vita Support Inbound

A fairly typical Plus month.

It's that magical time of the year just before the other magical time of the year - The E3 leaks.  (Of course, the other magical time being E3, I figured you all knew that and okay, shut up Mogs)  However, thus far, there hasn't been an actual whole lot that's rumored to appear or anything that's...er, super big.  Even what I'm going to talk about tonight is less "big awesome surprising news" and more "Hey, -just- this side of being late-to-the-party", but it's welcomed and appreciated nonetheless.  And while a lot of us preface rumors with a whole lot of "Now, it's a rumor, so don't look into it too much", but just think about it like this:  When was the last time there was a reported rumor that didn't come true?  Even silly things like MercurySteam making a 2(.5)D Castlevania end up being true, so it's hard to -not- believe these things when you hear about them at face value.

Regardless, today's 'rumor' states that Playstation Plus is coming to Vita alongside a sort of revision of the service; an upgrade, really.  The upgrade is set to have 'top-tier titles' for subscribers (I...don't know what this means) as well as, obviously, exclusive updates for people who might just happen to be Vita-only subscribers.  This will likely mean one PS3 and one Vita game free per month, as well as some meted out discounted/free DLC among the two systems, ensuring each individual store gets roughly the same amount of content, so as to not show 'favoritism', considering Plus subscriber will mean just that, regardless of whether you're PS3-only, Vita-only or both.  I'm not too sure if they'll be able to integrate the Auto-Update thing into the Vita proper, but I imagine it'll get access to the Cloud Saves (which would be extra handy for it, considering some data is stored with the actual game data itself and is a hassle to back up by other means) on top of everything else.

Of course, I imagine this functionality will need a firmware update and this is just me speculating and is no way included in the rumor itself, but while they're updating the firmware.....I'm still hoping that PSOne functionality for the Vita is included.  Not even because I'm planning on using it, not even because I'm miffed that it's not in already (I'm not so much, though), and not even because I'm getting tired of seeing it whined about everywhere, but just because that would be a great fuckin' move.  There was a lot of shit-flipping when Nintendo announced that not only was the Wii going to support SD saves or whatever a few years back, but that it was going to support it right now because 'hey we just pushed out the firmware for it while I was speaking about it'.  People really like that sort of "I'm waving my hands and MAGIC happened!" effect, so long as it's not announcing a brand new console that is in stores this very moment, and for something big like that, it would be a big boon.

I've said it a few times, but it would make a lot of sense for their presser, especially with Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale being showed off since I imagine a lot of classic characters will be in the game.  Well, -games- because it's quite obvious that the game will see a Vita version, but that's neither here nor there.  Something like "since we're honoring characters that really built the Playstation brand, it's only fair that we allow everyone to see these Playstation Classics for themselves.  To that end, PSOne games are now available to be played on your Playstation Vita" or something like that.  A little more flowery or whatever, but I'm sure you get the angle that I'm suggesting the take on it.  It's a pretty standard one, really, but always a crowd-pleaser, especially if it would mean that people get to play their Final Fantasies and other RPGs and Tomba! games and whatnot on the go.  I admit, it's technically a little far-fetched to expect, so I'm not exactly expecting it, but if it happens, oh man, will I be bragging about it.  After all, I'm really just suggesting timing since PSOne Support is an inevitability, clearly being worked on in the months since the Vita saw release.

Still, no matter what does or doesn't get added to the Vita at E3, it -is- heavily suggested that you go ahead and dip into Playstation Plus, at least for E3 (which means grabbing a 3-month voucher as I plan to do) since there are some 'surprises' lined up for Plus members apparently.  From the head content manager for SCEE's PS Plus means that it will likely be a -thing-, and hopefully not exclusive to PAL.  (I really doubt it will be, of course)  Granted, they're supposed to hype this stuff up, but I imagine this is genuinely something pretty 'cool', so I'm going to go with it.  At the worst, I'll just open myself up to a few time-sensitive free games and discounts that might push me into grabbing some Playstation cash despite being low on the real thing.  At the best....well, who knows?  And that's part of the fun.  Only a few more days until we find out!

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!

Squeenix "Classics" Hitting PSN All Winter

So, Squeenix just announced the other day that for the "Winter of RPGs" campaign they (and apparently only they) are taking part in for the Playstation Store, three "Classic" RPGs will be thrown up onto the store from as quickly as next week to December 6th.  The titles named are the above pictured Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI.  There are a few problems with this, as you might have inferred from my use of "Classics" in quotes as I did just there, but it's not all to do with the games themselves.  That's a big part of it, but I can't help but stop at the fact that it's the "Winter of RPGs"....but there's only three RPGs.  And they won't last through the Winter.  They won't last through half the winter.  There is a lot of Winter to come after December 6th, is my point.

That aside, the issue at hand is the fact that all three games are the PSOne versions of said games.  In Chrono Cross' case this is something of a "Duh" statement since it's only ever been released on PSOne, however Final Fantasy V and VI are the real problems here in all this.  Somehow, someway, with every Squeenix game that's been released on the store, they've managed to keep just about every bit of lag and loading in the games as you would expect from a disk version.  (Or so I'm told)  So, when Final Fantasy V for PSOne has been decried as "the worst version" of the game for its long and numerous loading times (among other things), well, it likely means it's something to avoid.  Which is really unfortunate for anyone who might be hoping to play Final Fantasy V as it's actually really good, but the only version worthwhile seems to be the GBA one that you likely don't have access to.

I think Final Fantasy VI suffers from this problem less, but it's still likely not the most optimized version you could find out there, so it's probably another safe miss.  Unless, again, it's your only way to get into it and you're really, really itching to play some Final Fantasy VI and you just don't have access anywhere else (like Virtual Console).  I unfortunately don't have any real love for FFVI, nor do I dislike it; it's a game that simply exists in a series that I never seemed to have liked as much as I thought I had, which only becomes more and more clear with every entry that I play.  For the most part, the earlier FF games don't really capture me or my interest in any meaningful way (which I know some would call blasphemy, especially in the case of FF IV and VI), whereas the latter caste of the series invoke almost uniformly negative emotions in me.  Seven and Eight are, as they say, "where it's at" for me, and you all know where I stand otherwise for the non-numbered entries.

Of course, the big, pink, stupid-looking and poorly explained elephant in the room at this point is Chrono Cross, which we've established as a fact that I really don't like Chrono Cross (mostly for the fact of how it influenced the remake enhanced port of Chrono Trigger to the DS).  I should really get around to writing up a Ragequit for Cross at some point, rather than simply relying on my Chrono Trigger DS posts to make this point.  Anyway, as I've inferred, I'm of the opinion that none of the three games being offered by Squeenix are worth the assured $10 price tag they'll have.  For that price you could buy Chrono Trigger (which, as I've said before, is the second best version of the game you could find) or even Xenogears, which some would call me silly for even mentioning, simply because you either love Xenogears or you hate it.  As with most of the classic Squeenix JRPGs, there exists no middle-ground, unless you're like me and just don't care about the games.

Still, as always your mileage may vary on any of these so by all means, if you're really, really interested and desperate, I see no real harm in giving FFV or VI a shot.  I, of course, cannot recommend Chrono Cross even in a passive-aggressive manner, but I also wouldn't antagonize anyone who decided to take the plunge on it and find out just how stupid the rabbit hole gets.  Not deep, no no not deep at all, just really really stupid and nonsensical, even as a stand-alone game.  I could hope that others will join this "Winter of RPGs" campaign to flesh it out a bit more, or that Squeenix decides to throw more things up, but for now, it just sits as a poorly-thought-out reason to coordinate putting three Squeenix games on the store without four months separating them.

A Look Back - Legacy of Kain (Part 1)

I had intended to make this post at an undisclosed, later date when I'd re-familiarized myself with the Legacy of Kain series (Read:  Went through the Screenshot LPs of them in the SA Archives) but the series has been on my mind a lot lately, and with good reason.  It's Halloween, after all, so if there's any time to be thinking about Vampires, it's now.  And it's only appropriate that I capitalize on this prime opportunity now while the getting's good, but I still want to leave it open for myself to write on it again, hence the (Part 1) you may have noticed in the title header.  I thought it would be rather neat to do a post on the series as it is in my memory now (As in, I don't remember a whole lot), and then another when it's fresh; not only so I'll be able to be more clear on some of the more interesting aspects, but so that I'll be able to properly tell what was reasonably awesome and what's more nostalgia than anything.

It's worth noting that my only exposure to the Legacy of Kain series has been in fact only to the Blood Omen games and Defiance.  This is the first thing that I enjoy so heavily about the series in that it was told over two different protagonists and told in an incredibly smart way.  The Blood Omen games revolved around Kain, a Vampire who changed the world, where the other side to it, the Soul Reaver games,  followed Raziel who was more or less collateral damage in Kain's ever-growing acquisition of power.  The last game, Defiance, was a hybrid of both game types and, over the course of the story, changed you from controlling one character to the other.  It was, and remains to be, honestly brilliant to this day, in my opinion.

I hadn't even owned a copy of either Soul Reaver game until I happened upon them both at a garage sale for an exceptionally modest price and picked them up.  Being for PSOne and PS2 respectively, there wasn't a lot of chance that I'd actually play them, especially considering the latter portion of my collection of the games (Blood Omen 2 and Defiance) are both for the original XBox which I have no desire to plug back in anytime soon (and if I started the series, I'd likely want to play through them all again) but it was nice to actually have them.  Though, it's not as if I put a heavy amount of playing into the games of the series I had owned prior to that; in truth, I've only ever finished Defiance.  Which I find a little funny, considering that does nothing to prevent me from loving the series from nearly all aspects.

It's hard to tell whether or not that ignorance has made LoK better for me than it has a right to be, or if that devotion is well-earned; personally, I would swing towards the latter.  It's honestly the whole concept of the series that I love so much, the two-pronged approach (in a way that isn't a money-grab) and that the writing, direction and character work is all fantastic.  Should you have any reservations to accepting that at a base level, this would be the part where I bring up the fact that Amy Hennig, Head Writer and Creative Director of the Uncharted series, had her hands about that deep into the LoK series.  It's no wonder that the only game I don't see her listed in as Director and/or Writer for in the LoK series is Blood Omen 2, which I seem to remember being the, er, 'black sheep' of the games, if you will.  What I'm saying here, basically, is that the LoK series has the pedigree to back up my words, which could have been seen as mindless praise without something like that being brought up.

I imagine it is a bit unfortunate that my only time with Raziel was spent in Defiance, since at the point in which I started playing him in the game it was all so alien to me that I wasn't quite sure if I enjoyed it or not.  While the mechanics of both characters are somewhat similar, they're quite different as well and take a lot of getting used to, as I remember it.  That Defiance basically incorporated two entirely different games* into one for the finale is nothing short of really, really amazing to me, and one of the main things that really really blew me away when I first played it.  Of course, I was always a bit of a Kain fanboy, as I always embraced the philosophy of enjoying the good Bad Guy, so I really don't think I allowed myself to be properly introduced to him in all honesty.  Though I've inferred it, I should state right here that Kain, insofar as the overall series went was always the 'Antagonist' where Raziel was the 'Protagonist', despite the fact that you played as both of them (not only in both series, but in Defiance) and fought the other a lot.

I've strained and thought of it, but I can't really think of another game that's effectively done what the LoK series did, in letting you play as two characters that were 'fated' to go against one another as Kain and Raziel were.  I could suggest one game, but it would likely be a non-related spoiler, so I won't state it directly.  (But the clue would be a Capcom RPG in a series that has, unfortunately, fallen off the face of the earth)  But regardless of that, such an epic (and I use the word literally here, since that's what I would consider the overall story of the series to be) undertaking in this style hasn't been done since that I know about and it's honestly a damn shame.  To use an over-exaggerated idea, it would be akin to Nintendo making and releasing a game where, rather than Link, you play as Gannon(dorf), fresh off a recent defeat and aiming to regain his lost power.

Who wouldn't play that?

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.

Xenogears hits the PS Store this week!

Over at the Penny Arcade forums, I take care of the Playstation Store thread, which basically just exists to let everyone know what's come out on any given week, what the general community thinks is pretty good/worth the price, and to let everyone just talk about the games on the PS Store.  Over at the Playstation Blog, they've taken to doing something they call "The Drop" which gives everyone a heads-up as to what will be coming out that week in retail and over the digital store.

And when I saw this week's post, I was doing the usual skimming to see the normal banners they do up for the different categories, which is a nice touch, when I saw this:

"No way", I said.  But yes, it was true.  Xenogears (tentatively, as some things have been delayed after The Drop posts, but I'm seriously hoping against this, obviously) is coming out this week.

Now, why should you care?  Well, several reasons.

1.)  It has giant robots.  Not only that, some of these robots are piloted by Martial Arts masters.  But in all seriousness, the giant robots are pretty great (Are giant robots ever not?) and are utilized in the game in rather different and interesting ways (storyline wise, at least.).  The battle system is top-notch as well.

2.)  It's probably one of the greatest things to come from Squaresoft.  While mostly my opinion and hyperbolic, it held my attention far more than any Final Fantasy title ever could hope to do.  My Holy Trinity of Square (not Squeenix) games is basically Chrono Trigger, Xenogears and Final Fantasy Tactics, so take that for what you will to see if our tastes perhaps overlap, since that will likely be more of an indication than anything on whether you'd like it or not.

3.)  It has a pretty great soundtrack from some guy named Yasunori Mitsuda.  You may or may not have heard of him.  (Oh god, I'm being tongue-in-cheek, please realize that.)

I literally spent half an hour trying to pick which three songs to use, because there is a -lot- of great choices.

4.)  It's only going to be $10.  Given that it's quite a rare game, and anywhere else, it'll cost you far more than $10, that's a bargain.

Really, it's just a great game, and considering it's a classic RPG, you know you're going to get your bang:buck ratio out of it and then some.  Not to mention, buying more of Squeenix's games might encourage them to allow us to, well, buy more of their games.