MTG Salvation

For those who are in love with, or are curious about, steampunk as a genre and as an aesthetic, I certainly suggest Ian Mcleod's The Light Ages and The House of Storms. They are far in between my favourite steampunk fantasies.

Quote from Highroller

Does anyone own Sonic: The Dark Brotherhood that can tell me how it is?

Bought it yesterday. Haven't got much time to toy around with it much, but so far it's alright. I'm digging the battle system. It's touch oriented, but not as chaotic as TWEWY was at first.

FFXIII when it comes out. Sure it'll be on the 360 too, but I have reason to believe that the PS3 version will be technically superior.

Quote from Monopoman

The Paintbrush mechanic works well enough the game is very entertaining and fun to play. While it might have worked better on the DS it sure as heck wouldn't have looked as good. As we can see one of the major selling point of the game was the paint flowing look.

Never saw a game in the same art style as Okami until Okami. I found the game play a bit odd at first but soon came to appreciate the whole game.

It is indeed a unique game. I just didn't get into it as much as I'd like. My penchant for NDS would probably have made the difference. I did not necessarily mean that it would sell more on the DS than it would on the Wii, but rather, it would have been a more appealing buy, personally, if it were on the DS.

I never really cared much about Okami, even on the PS2. The art direction is the only redeeming feature; the paintbrush mechanic had promise, but did not work at all with the PS2. This is a game that would have worked so well on the DS.

Blah blah blah, here's September sales, courtesy of Game|Life, likely based on NPD data (too lazy to check again.)

Hardware:

1. Wii - 687,000
2. Nintendo DS - 536,800
3. Xbox 360 - 347,200
4. PSP - 238,100
5. PlayStation 3 - 232,400
6. PlayStation 2 - 173,500

Software:

• 360 STAR WARS: THE FORCE UNLEASHED LUCASARTS Sep-08 1 610K
• WII WII FIT W/ BALANCE BOARD NINTENDO OF AMERICA May-08 2 518K
• 360 ROCK BAND 2 MTV GAMES/ELECTRONIC ARTS Sep-08 3 363K
• WII MARIO KART W/ WHEEL NINTENDO OF AMERICA Apr-08 4 353K
• PS3 STAR WARS: THE FORCE UNLEASHED LUCASARTS Sep-08 5 325K
• 360 MERCENARIES 2: WORLD IN FLAMES ELECTRONIC ARTS Aug-08 6 297K
• WII WII PLAY W/ REMOTE NINTENDO OF AMERICA Feb-07 7 243K
• 360 MADDEN NFL 09 ELECTRONIC ARTS Aug-08 8 224K
• WII STAR WARS: THE FORCE UNLEASHED LUCASARTS Sep-08 9 223K
• PS2 MADDEN NFL 09 ELECTRONIC ARTS Aug-08 10 158K

Frankly, there really isn't anything surprising about this list. SWFU did well as expected, as well as a smattering of EA. Wii has their mainstays from 800 years ago. Next please!

I slightly agree with monopoman.

I really don't see how camera/music features will appeal to the audiences that Nintendo is looking for. The image resolution is too low to swoon over, and the music features require format conversion, which will be a pain for casuals. There simply is no reason why they should simply buy an iPhone instead, other than price.

With that said, the value for the money is still good, still supposedly staying under 200 bucks. If anything, that is pretty much the only thing the DSi has going for it, aside from being a DS itself. Then again, since it is a DS, that should be enough to warrant a purchase.

Quote from gerg

Don't be sad when you get the crappy Euro version we have already, rather than the amazing Japanese version. /jaded

better than nothing, gerg. better than nothing.

Actually, reading up on the full North American press conference, I noticed that the music playback for the DS is restricted to AAC files only. This, combined with the sketchy camera resolution and removal of GBA slot, makes me really want to think hard about whether or not I will buy it, since I already have one. Either way, I have a good amount of time to think about it.

Turns out, however, that I may not even have the funds to get another DS, when ****ING CLUB NINTENDO is coming to North America. Holy crap, I'm going to need a second job.

Quote from gypsieking3280

Sweet sweet nectar, did I see what looked like a Mike Tyson's Punch Out in the Wii Video?

Yes. Punch Out will be out for the Wii, likely sans the Mike Tyson label. Also a neat surprise, Sin and Punishment 2 will be coming out as well. Both games look like they retain the art style of their predecessors, except with Wii graphics, which is quite win in my books.

Reading details from Wired's gaming blog, there are two cameras, one external and one that faces the user, kinda like a macbook. Pictures are 300,000 pixels, or 0.3 megapixels, or 640x480. Not exactly the best resolution for a camera, but a camera nonetheless.

Despite the GBA slot removal, the DSi is now thinner than the DSL by a few milimeters.

Quote from gerg

Wow I haven't posted here for ages. I guess I lose interest in talking about most things because it's always along the same lines - good Wii and DS hardware/software sales, with the PS3 and Xbox 360 fighting for second place.

The last interesting news I can remember is the DS/PSP switching sales positions in Japan (hardly surprising), and the Xbox 360 half-outselling the Wii for a week in the region too. Other than that, it's all the same, really.

Oh well, here's looking to TGS.

It is also reflective of my waning interest in video game blogs such as Kotaku, Joystiq and the sort, because it's always the same news. I could see by the quality of their posts that they are desperate for any sort of news.

I'm expecting TGS to be a dud much like E3 and Leiz. It would appear that all three companies have blown their load regarding console announcements for the remainder of the year. I'm worried about Nintendo's prospects for 2009 as a hardcore gamer, but I do remind myself that I have drifted over to World of Warcraft ever since I got Wii Fit and Rock Band.

Artist: Paramore
Song: crushcrushcrush

Holy moly I had originally thought that this band was just some crummy avril lavigne knockoff (made worse by the fact that I don't like Avril's music that much), but the vocalist really got to me. I have a big taste in female vocals, and she really has this nice tone quality that isn't just screaming or overly nasal. And the songs are pretty catchy.

Chrono Trigger DS! Wrath of the Lich King too, which supposedly comes out fall-winter 2008, from the looks of it.

1% of the population seeing Illidan months after it came out is not good game design. I used to be up there (I quit, thank god) and it's just monotonous; a full time job more so then most people can understand.

Considering that not everyone wants to raid, 1% of 10 million is still 100,000 people, that's a decent amount of people to see endgame content. Even if that's not enough to be considered bad game design, the 10 million population would suggest otherwise.

And if you feel like you're in a full time job raiding, then you need to get your priorities straight about your gaming habits, or perhaps you need to find a better guild. I raid casually, and am comfortably sitting in SSC/TK content.

-WAR has better PvP. Right from level 1 can you can PvP in what WoW players will most easily identify as battlegrounds. You can easily acquire good gear this way, and there is no inane ladder/rank system. Also, you get PvE XP from PvP as well.

gaining PvE XP from pvp is not the be-all-end-all perfect idea, since it elminates the possibility of staying in a desired level bracket, which will displease a significant number of PvP'ers, paticularly those who aim their gear at those particular brackets. If anything, I am of the opinion that it is a terrible idea.

I'll admit, however, that I have no opinion about the WoW arena system since I don't participate in Arena PvP.

-WAR actually cares about what content it pushes out, which is why they made the ultra ballsy move of cutting content right before release. It wasn't ready, they knew this. Expect WotlK to ship with a ton of bugs, overpowered DKs, and Arthas not actually available yet, and most of the bosses leading up to him bugged in some way (despawns at 20% and says "it's not my time" or something, one shotting everyone with an ability that is not intended to one shot, etc.)

You are expecting Blizzard, a company reputed for never announcing solid released dates because of their "it'll be ready when it's ready" business strategy, will releasing a game with plenty of bugs? Yes, there are fears that DK's could potentially be OP, but that's what beta is for, and according to recent beta builds, the class has received nerfs to some of their talent trees. The bugs that you claim will be in the game are overly exagerated, and have never been of any significant issue on live realms. That isn't to say that there won't be bugs; they will occur, but that's what patches and rolling restarts are for, and WoW isn't the only game to be affected by this. WAR is just as likely to have them.

And as far as storylines go I don't know anything about the WAR storyline, but I really can't see it being any worse than WoW's. For any who doesn't know, WoW's lore is pretty much this: Dragon Ball Z mixed with some D&D. Seriously. Super, mega powerful figures (Illidan, Arthas, etc.) duking it out, combining powers at times (Arthas + Gul'dan's power is maximum). We, the player, are pretty much useless when compared to these mortal gods, so good luck with the feeling of progressing your character when your um..sword will never be as big as Arthas', so to speak.

The lore is no different from any other fantasy-genre series preceeding it. If anything, it holds its own with regards to the multitude of races involved in the storyline, each having their own story, and none having their own super-powered DBZ avatar figure. Seemingly omnipotent figures such as the Dragon Aspects are capable of being enslaved and used against their will as tools for earthly races such as the Orcs. As for the whole "useless characters" aspect, I would hardly think that player characters are weaklings, since even 10-man raids would be capable of taking down Arthas, whether it be defeat in combat, or actually killing him.

Eh? My brother plays Wow, and he admits, "Yeah, the story sucks." I've always considered WoW's setting to be basically Warhammer light. (This does have some precedence...the original Warcraft was going to be a Warhammer RTS, until the licensing deal fell through and they generic'ed it up).

I'll admit that the first Warcraft felt very generic, but as the sequels were released, more lore was introduced regarding the different races, and how they evolved throughout the timeline of the Warcraft universe. It stands on its own storywise, completely different from Warhammer.

full of cliches and cheesy Noun-Noun names like "BLOODFIST DOOMHAMMER" or "SCARWOLF DEMONBANE."

Those are merely names given to the more primitive, young races, such as Orcs and Dwarves. For them, naming is a cultural thing, based on accomplishments done by members of the individual's ancestry. This is common in most fantasy races as well.

As a canadian, I'm very disappointed thus far with our performance thus far. ZERO medals. Seriously, what the holy heck is going on? We used to have such a great swim team, and only until Sydney did we never have walked away from a summer games (in the past 40-ish years) without at least one medal. But again, we get shut out. Why must we suffer so?