Random Game Never To Play Alone (Or Else) #1: Dokapon Kingdom

Posted on June 24, 2012 by geelw

I have a stupidly long list of article idea and as usual, not enough time to get them all written, but every so often I’m going to post the occasional test article for your perusal. Here’s one goofy idea I had ages ago while writing for another site about games that made for a terrible time when played alone. I thought about reviving the idea recently while listening to some folks in a game shop arguing about what was the worst game to play alone and getting a chuckle that every game mentioned in their discussion revolved around survival horror, MMORPGs or assorted shooters (with every game mentioned in the latter two genres geared for multiplayer gaming). The first game I thought of was Atlus’ 2008 US release of Sting’s 2007 hybrid board game/RPG, which some have very incorrectly labeled a straight Mario Party clone. The Dokapon series was around a bit longer than Mario Party and Dokapon Kingdom is more or less a polygon-based reworking of a Super Famicom game from 1994 called Dokapon 3-2-1: Arashi o Yobu Yuujou, which is equally challenging as a solo play experience. Now, neither are anything resembling “bad” games at all. They’re fun to play and funny, but are both just designed to work better with more than one person playing them…
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Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut Trailer: Finally Finshing The Fight (And The Fight With Some Fans As Well)…

Posted on June 24, 2012 by geelw

Boom. BioWare gets right to it, and of course, some folks STILL aren’t happy about this soon to be released DLC. Oh well. My only suggestion is for any and EVERY publisher out there to let a game this huge get more time to cook so it’s DONE and done right when it ships. Sure, even if the game had shipped with more closure, there would have been fans unhappy that everything they wanted to see wasn’t there. That said, I didn’t mind the ending so much as the oddball deal with the Normandy being in a weird place at a certain point. But all fiction needs its shortcutting, as does actual history in every retelling, it seems. Anyway, will this content show up on a disc at some point so folks who don’t have an Origin account or don’t care about online play actually be able to finish the story THEY started? That’s the more important question for me…

Go Buy This: Tomba! Hits PSN (Thank You, Monkey Paw Games!)

Posted on June 24, 2012 by geelw

I sold off my mint Tomba! and Tomba 2: The Evil Swine Return sometime last year for a nice chunk of change (I was surprised at how much they went for), but of course, I miss them terribly now, as they both were fun to play and pretty hilarious to boot. Anyway, thanks to the fine folks over at Monkey Paw Games, I can at least play the first game again, as it’s gotten a PSOne Classics reissue. Yeah, yeah, I’d prefer it on a disc with a bunch of other PSOne games, but that’s not going to happen, so this is the next best thing. Like Klonoa and before it, Pandemonium!, Tomba uses a “2.5D” perspective that combines traditional side-scrolling gameplay with occasional plane shifts into different parts of the 3D environment. It’s also got some light RPG elements (but isn’t a RPG a tall) and is one of those games that will keep a smile on your face from the moment you fire it up. I’d actually LOVE to see Monkey Paw get more PSOne games out (including a ton of the imports I have here), but I guess I should go bug them about it on their site, right?

Today’s GOG.com Battle of the Games: Sacred Gold vs Divine Divinity – Larian’s Take Makes Perfect Sense

Posted on June 24, 2012 by geelw

Of all the “battles” in gog.com’s ongoing brawl it out for a discount promotion, this one has to be the toughest call yet (well at least for me). Both games are absolute essentials for any core RPG fan’s library (don’t even THINK of mentioning the words “Diablo” and “Clone” here, as both SG and DD are more expansive in terms of a few core elements) and both will eat away at your free time once you start playing.

That said, a few folks at Larian Studios (divine Divinity) took a hard look at this battle and made a pretty obvious choice for their pick. Take a peek at the video above, go vote and buy the game that wins as well as the “loser” when the contest is over. No matter who wins or loses here, both games come highly recommended.

The Amazing Spider-Man Game Update: A Little Bruce Campbell Action For You…

Posted on June 23, 2012 by geelw

OK, I may not want to swing around a virtual NYC as Stan ‘The Man” Lee in The Amazing Spider-Man game, but I can’t say anything negative about Bruce Campbell getting into the game, voicing “The Extreme Reporter” (which is an oddball name for a character, but oh well). Now, would I want to swing around in the game as Bruce in the guise of Ash, Brisco County Jr., Elvis from Bubba-Ho-Tep or any other characters he’s played? Nope. I just appreciate the man’s talent and humor along with his large body of work. That and hell, some “bonuses” aren’t all that special if they make no sense, kids…

Spec Ops: The Line Developer Diary #1: Yager’s Focus On Excellence All Around

Posted on June 23, 2012 by geelw

With the game about to roll into retail this coming Tuesday, 2K has released this developer diary about the making of this innovative squad-based shooter. It’s pretty clear that developer Yager wasn’t set on just copying other games or doing something that wasn’t going to be yet another multiplayer focused shooter with a to short single player campaign, so definitely check this one out if you’re looking for something unique and compelling on a few fronts…

Clan of Champions Update: PSN, Steam Bound This Summer in NA & EU.

Posted on June 23, 2012 by geelw

So, Clan of Champions still isn’t getting a budget retail release? Boo. Still, it’ll be worth a buy or try if you’re a fan of the underappreciated Gladiator Returns on the PSP or Warriors of the Lost Empire, another PSP game that’s got visual similarities as well as some of the same game mechanics, menus, options and even typefaces as Gladiator Returns. Well, all three games are from the same developer, so I don’t mind this sort of recycling, although Warriors was one of those games that you had to get used to (and actually only really got great after you beat it once). Gladiator Returns was better in some respects, but had some of the same flaws as Warriors. That said, both games had more than enough going for them to keep me playing and CoC looks to hit that same spot.

Of course, I still have my fingers crossed that NISA gets back to doing more with retail as well as DLC so MORE people can play these games, as not EVERYONE has the ability to or hell, even likes to download ALL their game content. Getting this game and perhaps some of their other upcoming PSN-only content on a disc at some point (together in one package deal) would indeed be sweet… but I’m not holding my breath. It’s kind of hard to type when you’re blue in the face, you know…

Best Gaming News I’ve Heard Today (So Far): Journey Collector’s Edition Coming To Disc This Year.

Posted on June 22, 2012 by geelw

OK, you KNOW you’re tired when you keep replacing the posts you just wrote with new ones, then get annoyed that what you spent time working on has gone for good (almost… thank goodness for auto-saves!). One more re-post (this one), and I’m off to bed, grrrr…

Well, well, well. Something I’d begged thatgamecompany to consider doing way back when I first saw Journey at a press event here in NYC and it looks as if a lot of other people have been thinking and wanting the exact same thing. Thanks to a recent tweet that spilled the beans after the CE info for the region-free Asian version showed up on Play-Asia (interestingly enough, the page says the popular online import retailer has pre-sold out of its allocated supply already). I saw something about a week or two ago mentioning the possibility of Journey hitting retail a disc, but it looks as if tgc’s other hits, flOw and Flower will also be included along with other surprises not yet revealed. My money is on a soundtrack (either downloadable or on the Blu-Ray), art gallery and perhaps a making of video, all of which would make the package a must-buy, especially for PS3 owners who don’t or can’t access PSN.

That said… all of that content would indeed be lovely, but if there were demos of other PSN games (that were or are HOPEFULLY also Blu-Ray bound as fair-priced collections) of recent vintage (or those soon to be released… *cough!* Papo & Yo *cough!*), that would be even better. Come on, SCEA – do this up right and make some money while making a LOT of people really happy in the process. More news on this awesomeness as it rolls out. The inevitable trailer should be interesting, that’s for sure…

Nintendo 3DS XL: It’s Definitely Much Larger (And New Users Need To Buy A Charger)…

Posted on June 22, 2012 by geelw

Update: Well, oops: it looks as if the XL will indeed ship with that Adapter.Charger after all. Thanks to Destructoid for confirming this. Now, good night!

How very, very funny. I was going to buy my own 3DS a few weeks back (I’d been borrowing a friend’s system from time to time, as he doesn’t use it much), but something kept holding me back. It looks as if this was what I was waiting for, so good for me, I suppose. Those larger screens are a blessing my my ancient eyeballs and while the unit doesn’t have a second analog disc (there’s now room for it, but hell, you’d have to have EVERY game that could use a second stick be reprogrammed to take advantage of it), it’s not going to stop many core users from upgrading (after some complaints, especially if they recently bought a 3DS). That said, Nintendo gets a kick in the shins for keeping the price “below” $200 by dropping the AC Adapter/battery charger from the new handheld’s packaging, forcing new users to shell out for one. If you’re trading up, the old 3DS Adapter will work just fine, so at least they got THAT right (Apple, take notes, at least on this part).

As usual, you can’t make EVERYONE happy, but you can at least make sure they can see and play your games, so kudos to Nintendo on that front. Oh yeah, here’s the rest of the Nintendo Direct video so you can check out what else is coming for the platform from the house that Mario built…

Plush Sega Genesis! Now, That’s A True Sega Fan At Work…

Posted on June 21, 2012 by geelw

This is REALLY cool, isn’t it? And nope, I didn’t make this at all – I’m just re-posting a video from Sega’s YouTube channel. The only thing I’ve ever made for Sega was TROUBLE, thanks to all my requests for obvious remakes or reboots that have never been done. To wit: Hey, Sega! Where the heck is Panzer Dragoon BOX (with all the games redone in HD), Shining Force III: Complete (same HD deal, with ALL three chapters AND that Premium Disc Content), Some sort of Sega Saturn Collection and hell, while we’re at it an ultimate Arcade/Home Collection that features as many Sega arcade and home games as can fit on a Blu-Ray? I want Thunderground, Astron Belt, SubRoc, Alien III: The Gun, Time Traveler and other games long forgotten (and in some cases NEVER seen on any previous Sega collections). You guys HAVE the history, so USE IT, grrrr! Get on it, already!

See, I’m nothing but trouble. And yeah, I had to rewrite this post because of a glitch that had the Journey post zap the original one I made into the ether. Oops! Anyway, as I said in that post, I can only offer Sega my advice and some tough love because I can’t sew or knit for shit and sending baked goods in the mail is a BIG no-no unless you’re a reputable company shipping food that’s guaranteed not to make anyone sick…