Letter of Apology: Dynasty Warriors

To save effort I'm going to used the localized naming conventions for the series so this mostly disregards the first game which is a fighter. I jumped into the Dynasty Warriors series with the third entry. I had no idea what to expect but you gotta try things out right? When I started up the game I was greeted to some characters who I hate no hope of pronouncing their names properly. (Neither did the English voice actors for that matter.) I thought that this Zhao Yun guy was pretty cool looking (Turns out it was the only character I ever used besides Xiahou Dun at the time.) and proceeded into the game.

After some awful voice acting I was itching for a fight. I had no idea how I was supposed to win against such odds but sure, I'll wing it. It was after my first few encounters that I realized that I was more than a little bit overpowered. Zhao Yun was wailing on the enemy and in retrospect it was almost like playing a third person shmup. Other than the fact that I won't die in a single hit or several for that matter. In fact, other than a select few generals, there was no challenge to be seen.

This was only one small part of the problem though. Lack of challenge is one thing but I was quickly realizing the limitations of my attack options. Hammering the square button before finishing off with triangle got old quickly for me then. I felt like I was playing a game about rising the kill counter more than anything else. It was dull and boring, I quickly gave up after a couple of playthroughs. Other than playing the two Drakengard games, I mostly stayed away from hack & slash games ever since.

Well that all changed when I played Dynasty Warriors 6 (Better represented in Dynasty Warriors 7 however.) I finally started to realize what these games were all about. Dynasty Warriors is very much a game about base capture and field control. That may not exactly sound astonishing on paper but I can assure you that it adds a surprising amount of tactical depth to a game where you expect there to be none. Still don't believe me? You want to know one of the more popular game genre's around these days? The MOBA or Multiplayer Online Battle Area. Those games are about squashing minions while slowly pushing forward to gain influence on the map. Hindered only by the other player characters on the map. Dynasty Warriors is more or less the same formula but singleplayer. (or co-op if you're going to be pedantic about it.)

I'm not a massive fan of MOBA games because to my experience I’ve found the people to be quite rude and I don't want to sink as much time into a game like a MOBA demands. Like my Final Fantasy VI apology, this is all a little bit pointless but I wanted to write this because I now think that Dynasty Warriors is a great franchise and it's lead me into not only playing tons more hack & slash games like Sengoku Basara but it also get me greatly interested in the source material Romance of the Three Kingdoms. (Which I recommend you read if you ever get the chance or time.)

Disposable Nature

Every scene sticks in my mind.

Maybe I'm getting old but I'm starting to notice a trend in the games industry lately. It seems that even though online gaming is at it's biggest ever, the longevity of of those experiences are weakening. I've been thinking about how to kill time until the UK release of the latest Fire Emblem game and I thought back to Chrono Trigger. “Maybe I could go grab some of those endings that I missed” Then I thought about my memories of the game. Mini-games at the millennial fair, punishment based on your subtle and not so subtle actions at the court case, seeing the depressing state of the future, learning how everything ties together. Chrono Trigger really stuck with me and it was just one of many games.

Persona 3 was a great example of game I always like looking back on.

Flash forward to the current generation. I played a few of the earlier Call of Duty games and despite the hate it gets, is actually a solid shooter. The problem is that it has left me with nothing. I don't remember the story much or what I was fighting for, something to do with guns I’m sure. Okay fine, It's an online game...I can dig it. Problem is...I don't remember much about my experiences with the online either. I got stressed more than a few times and I got some cool head shots but I don’t really “remember” them. The next version of Call of Duty made the last mostly obsolete. Call of Duty was a game that you were supposed to dispose of when you were done..

I think this is from Modern Warfare 2?

This is not to say that all games in recent memory have been this way. Some of the most striking games have come from this gen. Bioshock, Journey, Dark Souls, Ni No Kuni. That being said, there is a alarming increase in throw away games and it just kind of makes me sad. I don't want my games to just be time sponges, I want them to be experiences that I really take in. Maybe it's a change in business model, maybe it's changed according to the needs of majority of gamers. Maybe games have always been something to whittle away their free time with.

I dare say there are plenty of throw away games from earlier generations. Fighting games are probably the most guilty offender here. Why own Street Fighter II when Turbo is out? In their defence, this was also a method to perfect the game itself but the end result is the same. Sell Street Fighter II because Turbo is better in every possible way. Most people have learnt their lesson with fighting games (myself excluded) in that it's best to wait for the Hyper Rainbow Super Turbo Remix EX Alpha GOTY edition. It is however harder to draw the line with the next Battlefield or Call of Duty, exactly when you should jump into a new game.

No Super Bars Yet.

Maybe I'm wrong and I missed something, maybe most gamers prefer to move on with their games. As long as there is space enough for both mindsets, I'm fine with it, if it's what people want. It might be too strong a word that the industry is evolving but there is no doubt that it's changing.

Letter of Apology: Final Fantasy VI

It may or may not be obvious online, but to those around me it's clear that I love RPGs. Suikoden, Legend of Dragoon, Legend of Legaia, Shin Megami Tensei, Fire Emblem, Secret of Mana, Dragon Quest, you name it. I am also a big fan of the early to mid Final Fantasy games. It was always odd to me however, that is could never really get to liking Final Fantasy VI.

Generally speaking, there has always been two major camps when it comes to Final Fantasy. Those who love VI and those who love VII. I was always under the understanding that you did not need to dislike one to love the other but this was most definitely the case for me. I loved Final Fantasy VII, it was a game with no flaws at the time. Now I still do love Final Fantasy VII but it has a couple more problems than I remember. Some of the pacing is a little off during Midgar and the middle segments of the game but I still maintain that it's a fantastic game.

When I first played Final Fantasy VI, I felt it had a terrible mechanic for Magic and Stats and that the early stages of the game were very tiring. As a rule I don't like RPGs where the characters effectively become clones of one another inside battle. If every character can learn every spell in the game then there is little thought needed when building a party. Sure, each character has a unique skill but magic tends to overrule them for the most part. Those few with really great skills tend to dominate party set-ups and that's not a very good mechanically either.

Those were my first experiences with the game. I did not want to “ruin” my characters by building them with the wrong stats. This effectively pulled my game to a crawl as I tried to micromanage learning magic vs building the best characters. I recently got the GBA version of the game and decided to give it another try. The sound was awful but we had a run feature without the need of a relic. This time I was determined to play the game without worrying too much about what stats to build with each character or that they would eventually all have the same spells.

This time I was really having fun. The “slow start” of the game flew past as threw caution to the wind and proceeded to forget about those “wasted levels”. I did not struggle. In fact the game was just the right level of challenge. Once I reached the endgame it did start to become a little bit easy with the overpowered magic spells but there were still a few monsters with dirty little tricks to keep my entertained. 

What I mean to say by this long winded and frankly pointless post is that sometimes there are games I misjudge. Maybe a lot of us do but I am glad that I went back to Final Fantasy VI and proved myself wrong. Granted, I still find the mechanics a little bit flawed. I find that learning every magic spell or having stats awarded by needlessly shuffling through menus is a terrible idea. A testament to just how good Final Fantasy VI is can be shown in how little these affect the overall game.

If you have any similar experiences, where you went back on a game that you thought you hated but managed to find something you loved about it or maybe it's just a game you never really could like that everybody else seemed to go crazy over, drop a message below, I'd love to hear it.

So Long and Thanks for all the Video Games.

Oh Blizzard, what happened? I remember you, back when I was getting into PC games for the first time. I looked around at all the PC games and wondered “Is there anything here that I actually want to buy?” In the corner of my eye I could just about see a twinkle of something great buried in the mess of games. I picked it up to be greeted by a fiery red demon's grill slapped on the front case and a single word. Diablo. Sounds awesome to me. I ended up walking home with the battle chest which included both Diablo 1 and Diablo 2 with lord of destruction expansion. The hours I spent running through dungeons and scanning every piece of equipment I could find with blue text or higher. Just to see if it was that single digit higher in attack power. In retrospect it probably would have been quicker to run through with slightly weaker gear until a new area and it's equipment appeared.

That's not all from Blizzard though. I soon found myself back at the shop with the same Dilemma...What to buy...Plenty of clones of my beloved Diablo...but they were often a far cry from it's Brilliance. Maybe a change of pace is needed...an RTS maybe? I mean I loved Command and Conquer so why not. Did not take long to stumble across the DVD sized case with a huge green orc slapped on the front. “Warcraft III?” but I had not played any other games in the series...I eventually buckled and bought it. I got the same level of quality that I got from Diablo 2 but in the RTS genre...A far more colourful game...Something I welcomed to see on the PC. I loved the game a great deal and managed to work out the basics of what happened in the first two games. An RTS with RPG elements and driven by hero characters...Fantastic I thought. It all fit together well and while I could not get past the undead section of the game. I had fun.

I never did get myself acquainted with some of their other games like Starcraft but I had heard very good things but punishing difficulty as I found out recently. Next to hit big was World of Warcraft...Maybe just the term “hitting it big” is somewhat of an understatement...The game was nothing less than a behemoth. No other online game stood a chance. I was pretty late in getting into WoW and I did not get to a very high level. Just a Paladin in his mid 40s. Either way, I had fun and it did not feel the least bit like a grind to my experience...Alas...All good things must come to an end...WoW is still going and really without signs of evolution I fear it has started to drag other online games into it's pace. Now we have Diablo 3...While not an utterly terrible game, it was a far cry from what fans had come to expect from a sequel to Diablo 2. One day it might be okay...Blizzard may make the game fun or perhaps just make another great game someday...but for now...I think it's safe to say goodbye and thanks for all the memories.

DayZ: Real Life Zombie Expectations.

Recently I bought Arma II combined operations so I could try this new DayZ zombie mod that everyone has been raving about as of late and after an extremely stressful install process I got it running. The game is still in Alpha so it has a long way to go but I figured I'd write about my experiences in the game. The game is set in a fictional place called Chernarus and is approximately 225 kilometres in size. When you start the game you wash up on a random beach with nothing but a bandage, a torch and some painkillers. It's your job to survive the zombie infested area for as long as you can, because death means that you lose everything.

I peered around myself, looking for some sign of life. It was difficult to spot anything with the overcast making my sight ever so slightly blurred. To the right I saw nothing but to the left I could see what looked like a small dock and figured that if there wasn't any life, I might at least find some food or at least a gun. Off I went and before long I bumped into someone. Not a player, mind but the shuffling undead. It's sight was very poor but it's hearing was superb so I tried to sneak past, which was successful but upon turning around I found myself in-front of another undead but this one was hunched over on the floor, hopping around like an animal...He spotted me so I ran, More spotted me and chased after with human-like speed...I was trapped...I died.

I figured I would have to accept that I would die here and there, so I started over. A different area of the coast this time. Looking around I saw a road and nothing else, so I followed it. A road has to lead to a town eventually. It took a fair bit of running but I did find a town...A town that was guarded by Zombies. I had no choice. Like a survivor ninja I tried to weave between the zombies in town to try and find some kind of tool. Not even a gun, just something to hit them with would do. Success!, I thought to myself. On the floor were some objects inside a small barn I found. Some 12 gauge bullets, some makarov rounds and a heat-pack...Fantastic. Well if there were bullets maybe there would be a gun. Too late...A zombie had phased through the door I had just closed and in getting up and running another horde was on my tail...It was impossible to outrun them so only death awaited me.

Okay...There has to be something I'm doing wrong here. Maybe coastal areas are not the way to go...This time I made a bee-line straight through the forest ahead. No zombies so far and it wasn't too long before I noticed another man-made structure. An army airfield I thought, perfect!. There would have to be weapons there. Sneaking around the undead AI, I could see many soldier corpses but sadly it seems I could not check them for weapons and items. I saw something move oddly and when I focused on it, I could see that it was another player. One well equipped it seemed. Sneaking around with an AK47 in his hands I could see that he had far more experience than me...Or that he was very lucky. I decided to go my own direction as to not get in his way. A small building I found near me and with some items on the floor. Before I could pick them up I saw the guy from earlier.

He turned around and shut the door behind us so the Zombies would not get in. I thought that finally I would have someone to aid me in getting a weapon. I heard a gunshot and I was laying on the floor, dead.

Zombies are avoidable...Players are not so much. So that was my first experience with DayZ. It's a very fun and realistic attempt at a zombie apocalypse but it has a fair way to go yet in my eyes. Removing some glitches and maybe balancing the game more. In earlier versions you did start with a handgun which I suppose is kind of interesting that they removed it...Maybe they should add a few more melee weapons to find. Either way, I see great potential for this game In the future but right now...It's a little bit of a mixed bag.

A little bit of Ys please

Well now. Isn't this interesting. Xseed have started to publish games on Steam. We may now finally have a chance to see all these Falcom classics in their intended format. Now for a short history lesson. Falcom is a Japanese game company who developed a ton of games, most of which never saw the light of day outside Japan. Their most famous is probably Ys (Pronounced iss or ees). It was? Originally released on the NEC PC-8801 in Japan. The only English port around that time was on the Sega Master System. Unlike action RPGs at the time. You did not have an attack button but you'd run into the enemy to exchange damage. The trick is to try and either hit the enemy from the side or back or just chip the edge of its sprite. The game can be pretty hard in the early stages of the game but it was surprisingly fun and addictive. In later years Falcom pretty much focused their efforts into making their games for the PC and as Japanese games are not popular within the PC market in the West, we did not see an official translation until now.

I should mention that The Oath in Felghana is a remake of Ys III, which has seen an English release but the original game was absurdly difficult and almost entirely forsakes its roots and pulls a Zelda 2 in turning into a side scroller. The Oath in Felghana however, borrows the engine from the more recent The Ark of Nepishtim. No longer do you run into enemies to deal damage but it's still a fast and furious action RPG. Ark of Nepishtim saw an English release on PS2 and PSP but was originally released for PC in Japan. Thankfully you do not really need to have played any Ys game to understand the story. Other than a couple of recurring characters, it's totally independent. The only real exception to this rule is Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished and Ys II: Ancient Ys Vanished – The Final Chapter. As these are directly connected in plot. This has also seen a nice release as a double pack for PSP and DS in the US. The PSP game pretty much keeps the game engine of the original game but I cannot speak for the DS one.

As of now there is no way to play Ys Origin in English without turning to a translation patch. I'd hold off on doing that for now if you're new to the series and play the others first as I'm sure Xseed are right on that now that they have opened the doors to Steam. I want to mention a little bit about Ys Seven, even though I've only played the game briefly. This was the first game on the PSP which was built specifically with the PSP in mind from the start and it looks and plays great. It does take a few elements from modern game philosophy. In which I mean it has quite a lot of Quests and farming but it's all reasonably fun to the point I played. The game also introduces a tag system so you can finally play as Dogi... Don't know who Dogi is? Play some Ys and find out. If he can punch down a wall, He will.

In all. If you love action RPGs then you owe it to yourself to try Ys. All of the games mentioned apart from Ys Origin can be played easily in English now. PSN has pretty much all the PSP games or if you don't mind importing you can buy physical copies from the US. Ark of Nepishtim will be best if they release an official English release on Steam but the PSP game mostly emulates that anyway. So far the only Ys game that let me down a little was Ys III so that's a pretty good track record. Stop reading this and go buy it.

DLC Dilemma

So here we are. It's 2012. About ten years this console war has raged on. Nintendo obviously destroyed the competition very early on and left Microsoft and Sony to fight for second place. Everything feels so very different now. When I was a kid you could see the distinction between a game on it's platform but the line seems very blurred when Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 is concerned. In the 16-bit era you had a tough choice when choosing between Street Fighter II Turbo for the Super Nintendo or Street Fighter II Special Champion Edition for the Megadrive. The Super Nintendo game looked and sounded far better than it's Sega counterpart but the Megadrive six-button gamepad did really change the way we played the game. Nowadays it seems like it's more a choice or controller preference alone or where our friends are playing.

This is all a little off the topic I'm trying to talk about though. It's a little bit of a controversial subject but one I feel should be mentioned. From what I understand, DLC is supposed to be extra content added to the game to increase the length we stay involved in the game so game companies can help fund their next project. While I accept DLC, which would be more accurately called expansions are great. You had Shivering Isles with Oblivion as well as the Fallout 3 expansions. These large chunks of gameplay add enough to not only justify their purchase but also feel like it's something that was clearly developed after the game was launched or at best was only in the planning stage during development. Yes, those are great. I love playing game of the year level content but that is clearly the minority of DLC out there today.

Next you have the cosmetic DLC. These are annoying but mostly harmless to the person who does not want to dish out cash for the post game DLC or the special edition for all the day one crap we see. The main problem with this type of DLC is that it really adds nothing to the game experience so developers make these as a cheap way to cash in on those with a disposable income. The other problem is the fact that most of it is release with either a special edition or in the market place on day one. This means that the content was developed by the time the game was ready to launch. You could argue that it was developed in the time it took for the game to be shipped and put on store shelved but this is not the case, clearly not for DLC that comes with a new game or special edition.

The third type of DLC is added quests. This is mostly the same as the above but unfortunately it does add something, even if it's little and mostly pointless. The problem is that I find it hard to justify paying as much as 800 Microsoft points for what is basically ten minutes to a half an hour quest. As such I'm left feeling as if my game is incomplete. Of course this feeling will vary from person to person. I still like to blow into a Super Nintendo cart every now and again and play some Super Metroid or whatever the game may be. If Nintendo took away a power up from the game back then and I didn't buy it...I sure as hell can't now. That's me without screw attack for the rest of my life. Maybe I'm taking this all too seriously but that's how it comes across to me.

Now for the worst offender. When a game is designed in such a way that DLC was in mind from the start. This means that developers have to take out content which they otherwise would of put in the final game. Or at least they could of with the fact they made it anyway. Capcom are a big culprit in this area. God knows I love most of their games (when they don't shelve them to die. I still miss Breath of Fire and I'm still trying to get over Megaman) but the fact is that Capcom more often than not develop a game from scratch with the idea of making money from the DLC. At least it's the impression they give me. I wont bore people with Street Fighter X Tekken as you can type that into google and you'll probably find more about the locked content before you find anything about the actual game. So this time I'll talk about what I reviewed last time. Yes and I promise I'll let it go after this but for now you're going to sit there and listen to me complain.

Asura's Wrath is arguably the worst practice behind game development I have seen in so many years as a gamer. The content is not locked on the disk but it's worse than Street Fighter X Tekken could ever of been. Don't believe me? Okay well at least hear me out. I might just be going crazy with all the DLC talk. Some of the DLC released for this game has already been released as of writing this post. It serves as a chapter between chapter 11 and 12. This would not be quite so bad if it was not for the fact that the content was clearly something that was “missing” from the game. Later on they plan to release a chapter between 15 and 16. Same deal again here. The worst thing is the ending which I have already mentioned. Some argue that this is only an epilogue however this suggests that the final climatic battle has already happened but no. The way the game ends is with a twist and then being greeted with “To be continued” Now I really want to avoid going on a tangent about this as I've pretty much said all I have to say. There is some Ryu/Akuma crossover content but that doesn't matter at this point.

I'm not actually that angry about the game as a single offence. Yes it did completely ruin the game for me but the main worry I have is that, like with the online pass. People will start to see it as good practice and copy it. Namco Bandai have already started turning the tales series into a massive DLC festival with downloadable costumes. That would be fine if not for the fact Tales always had the costume content there for free but now it changes. This is proof that they do these things because they can and not because they need to. What does the future hold for the industry...Who knows...I fear that it's getting worse however.

Thanks for putting up with my lengthy post this time. If you agree or disagree. Feel free to let me know. I'm not really saying this as a fact but more my impression of the industry. It is true however that it's getting worse in some shape or form. I just figured it would be an interesting subject between reviews. Also feel free to suggest something else for me to talk about and if I'm “qualified” then I'll sure give it a go.

Street Fighter X Tekken

Being I've not had my hands on the game for long I'll be mainly giving my first impressions of the game. I am also no expert on the more subtle elements of fighting games but I'll give it a go. Street Fighter X Tekken does surprisingly well with the character roster in this game. The complaints about the on disc DLC are well founded on principle but there still is a massive cast of characters regardless. This, however does not excuse Capcom as the game takes a clear stance that it's being built from the ground up to extend the game by releasing Characters, Costume Packs, Costume Colours (possibly) and Gems.

Back to the characters though. Most of who I've used play really well and the Tekken characters make the transition as well as I'd hoped. While the Street Fighter characters play mostly the same on a basic level as their SFIV counterparts, they do have some minor changes for the most part. As always the Street Fighter characters focus mainly on special moves where Tekken puts their focus in Unique Attacks which serve as their trademark “Combo” moves. Hitting LP,LK,MP,LP and MK as Jin for example will execute a string of pre-made moves that link together. Whereas the Street Fighter characters would literally attack using the standard same strength moves in that order. I probably explained that poorly but in short the Tekken characters are quite easy to get a high combo from with little practice but there is no doubt a learning curve for Tekken players moving to the SFXT engine.

The game really rewards tagging out often in the game as it opens up many juggle chances and keeps your partners damage minimized as the first KO ends the round. I'm personally in half a mind about the Gem system. While it seems very interesting for personalized play it does add a pay to win aspect to the game. Also it means being familiar with a character is even harder because having power gems for example will make a character more powerful than he is. It would be nice if online play could turn the gems off but at this point I have not found such an option.

The online plays well as so far I've had little to no lag, even on the PS3 but one major problem is that pretty much all the sounds cut out when playing online. This is terribly annoying as it can do as much as throw off your rhythm when trying to string a large combo together. They should fix it soon but there is no way they didn't notice before launch. Game patches have ended up being a massive crutch for developers and now look where we are. Arcade mode is the usual deal. Nothing really worth mentioning. It's short but fun. You pretty much have the same modes as you've seen in SFIV already. Trials can absorb a decent amount of your time but otherwise you'll be waiting to play online or locally with friends. This is one of the reasons why the incomplete online is such a blow but in due time I'm sure it'll be fine.

On one last note. The framerate is great throughout. I never noticed a single dropped frame to my eyes and you get vsync, so no nasty cuts in the screen while it pans. The art style is great, just like SFIV was and the cartoon like look is pulled off well for the tekken characters. A few people like Law looks strange but it's overall a good job. It may be too early to tell if SFXT will be ruined by DLC in the future or that it'll be written off as a poor feeling game like MVC3 (though I feel like this game has plenty of substance compared to MVC3) but I personally think it's pretty good so far. Maybe not a replacement for 3^rd Strike or even SFIV maybe but time will tell.

SOPA and PIPA

The Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act are bills that are trying to be passed in the US in the very near future. The goal is to stop online piracy but the bill will always allow those inclinded to go as far as to sue people over hosting images,videos and information online should they wish it. The bill will also allow your ISP to block any website that it feels is a breach of copyright law. ISP's in China already do this. Try searching "Tank Man" in China and you will find nothing. In short. Anyone who is found breaking the copyright law can serve up to five years in prison in America. This will effectively destroy the internet. Want to upload footage to youtube of you playing a game? Tough. Want to upload a cover of a song you just wrote...Also tough. It may seem like something that won't affect the UK for example but you may find that many companies also have branches in the UK and will most likely try to "protect" their IPs. I just wanted to get some awareness out there is all. Click here to see a short video about it.

First Person Shooter Or An Adventure Game From The First Person Perspective?

I wanna talk about something that's been bugging me a little lately. Just how much the FPS genre has changed in such a short space of time. Now I'm no PC gamer and I'm sure that the PC followed different rules but if you consider today that the multiplayer component is the focus for any shooter these days, If you think back to just last generation on the consoles you had stuff like timesplitters which obviously had a heavy single player component. Now I'm not saying that multiplayer is not important...I'm not even saying that it shouldn't be the focus but don't you find it a little bit of a step back to remove the rich single player component we used to expect from most of our games.

Timesplitters, Goldeneye and Perfect Dark pretty much nailed what makes a good FPS back in it's time. Would it work now? No. Not without a heavy amount of nostalgia drive but I think that the design point of view for the single player still would. The controls need to be modernized to keep up with the standard...To face facts, the FPS genre was never able to survive outside of the current gen on it's own merit alone. Yes Perfect Dark and Goldeneye were highly rated on the N64 and god knows I love the N64 but it was limited in games. So yes it was logical that good games would become great. Though I personally still feel Ocarina Of Time was one such game that would of been great no matter the circemstance.

Objective based gameplay that we saw on the N64 and the PS2 are already quite missed to me. I myself find it tiring to run from point A to point B over and over again on what is pretty much a rail shooter that just doesn't force you to hold the forward button down. Now the multiplayer...That's all good...At least in theory it's all good...I'm sure it has it's fair room for improvement but what i'm trying to say is that. Is the multiplayer component enough that the single player is allowed to suck? Wouldn't it be better to just strip out the single player and put the money into a better online experience? You could argue that you still need a single player mode...But can we just have a good one? Please? EA, Activation...Can we have it so when your next game comes out that your old one does not automatically become obsolete? Perfect Dark got released on XBLA with a multiplayer component improved...I'd sure love to see someone pull that with modern warfare and it still suceed after it's day.

See? Hiding In The Dark Is Fun.

I'd just like to mention an interesting free indie game for the PC Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Stealth Bastard. Don't let the name fool you. This is a pretty fun little stealth platformer which reminds me of the type of quality you got in games like Spelunky. It's completely free with a leaderboard feature, level editor and so on. with games like this and Cave Story, it looks like indie development has reached a whole new level.

Try it now at their site http://www.stealthbastard.com/

Berserk Golden Age Arc 1: Egg Of The Supreme Ruler

The Berserk movie is coming along great by the looks of this trailer. Kentaro Miura would be proud I'm sure.
From what I understand, it's going to be a movie trilogy to serve as a way to launch the rest of the manga into anime form. Looking forward to that? Hell yes I am. When I finished the anime for the first time I could not fathom how it could get any better. Well it does and much better at that in my opinion. I figure it will be toned down for gore a ton for an anime release but all the same. I hope this drives Kentaro Miura to get back into the swing of publishing the manga and maybe...Just maybe, I'll see the end before I die. Random post I know but I just wanted to put it out there. I love Berserk and you should too. Watch or read it, you won't be disappointed.