Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two Isn’t The First “Musical Comedy” Game On A Console…

Posted on May 14, 2012 by geelw

As much as I respect Warren Spector, I noticed he made a slight error in a recent interview when he noted that Junction Point’s upcoming Epic Mickey sequel would be the first musical comedy video game. Wellll, I bet Nippon Ichi Software may have a tiny issue with that. Their insanely cute, insanely easy and on a few occasions, insanely hilarious PlayStation One strategy/RPG, Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure gets to wear that crown. I was working in an indie game shop when it hit the US back in 2000 and it was one of those titles that we couldn’t keep in stock because a wide range of customers found something to love about the game.

Parents with young kids liked the total lack of violent content, kids liked the songs and jokes and JRPG fans of a few ages found the game easy, but funny enough to dive into just to hear every one of the songs in the game. I did have to explain why there were a few too many panty jokes in the game to one concerned parental unit, but overall, I remember it as a lighthearted romp that was also one of the simplest JRPGs I’d ever played. A wee bit too easy, but then again, it WAS a kid’s game. Anyway, there were a couple of sequels released (in Japan only, of course) and the game got a nice reworking on the Nintendo DS that changed up the combat somewhat and can be found pretty cheap online if you know where to look.

Anyway, I’m not her to raise a “gotcha” game ruckus about this at all – just pointing out a fact or two in case you’re wondering about this sort of stuff. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how Mickey looks in HD and plays with the Move setup here, that’s for sure…

PANEKIT Update: A Buck? Sure, Why Not?

Posted on March 5, 2012 by geelw

Of course, I wasn’t actively looking for one, but you know how this one goes. Just by chance, I found a copy of this gem on eBay last week with a dollar starting bid from a seller in Japan. Given that it’s gone for a lot more previously but demand seems to have leveled off, I figured I’d take a chance while hoping not to get sniped on the last minute (like I did with the last copy I bid on last year).

Long story short: the auction ended where it started, so I scored the game for a dollar (plus eight more for airmail shipping). Another update to come (and maybe a photo or two) once it arrives and I play around with it a bit…

Gallery: PlayStation Library (US)

Posted on January 4, 2012 by geelw

Here’s the rest of the PS1 collection to go with the PS1 RPG/SRPG library I posted a few weeks back. What’s here is about 100-150 games less than it was about two years back, so anything you don’t see was most likely played to death and sold or traded. I absolutely never wanted a complete PS1 collection anyway, as I’d have a ton of games here that I’d never play. Still, I wish I’d kept more of the racers and all of the shmups I sold off, but oh well. That last photo is stuff I dug up after I took the others and put everything away. Oops. I was wondering where my import copy of D no Shokotaku ended up all this time. The items on the bottom row of the pic are a few of the small selection game soundtracks I have: Soukaigi, Silent Hill, Threads of Fate and Biohazard Remix. I don’t have anything resembling a decent game soundtrack collection at all – I just stuck those in because they’re PS-related…

Gallery Update: A Few Boxed Sets (PS/PS2)

Posted on December 27, 2011 by geelw

Oops. I’d forgotten to add these big box sets in the earlier photos, so here you go. With the exception of ZXE-D: Legend of Plasmatlite, everything’s been played. I haven’t actually had the will to snap together those robots in that big box and get someone else to sit down in front on the TV to try the game out, but if I ever stumble across a second box one fine day, I’ll actually play the game. I’m not expecting Soul Calibur or anything resembling a great fighter, mind you. But it should be good for some mindless fun for all the work it takes to build those robots. Oh well. maybe I’ll go track down a copy of Panekit instead. That’s an import I’ve been wanting for a long time. Oh, if you want to know what’s inside that big ZXE-D box, there’s an old, but in depth post HERE, courtesy of NCS. I had a couple more (Mars Story, a few Square Millennium boxes, special Dual Shock controller/game/t-shirt bundles and others, but I had to condense things because I’m out of room here).

Gallery: PlayStation Import Library

Posted on December 27, 2011 by geelw

Like all of the other libraries here, this was a bit bigger a few years back, but has shrunk a bit over the years. I’ve got a few nice guides that list every game made for the console (outside of demo discs from magazines and trial version discs, which I’d love to see more of at some point). As usual, far too many RPG’s never made it to the US and that’s too bad considering the quality of a lot of the ones here. It’s also too bad horror-themed or other adventure games like Moonlight Syndrome (or heck, the entire Syndrome series), Silver Jiken, Dark Messiah and others. Yes, I do like racing games and almost anything with a mech or mecha in it (which means I still have a lot of stuff to play that I haven’t yet). Super rare stuff like Rakugaki Showtime, Xanac x Xanac, Geppy-X, Double Dragon and a few more have been sold off for a while, but it was great to have experienced all of those while they were here. I think that’s everything I have left, but we’ll see if anything turns up as I get to the rest of the library in 2012…

PlayStation Vita Launch Lineup (25 Games & Counting)…

Posted on December 26, 2011 by geelw

It looks as if SCEA is absolutely making sure Vita owners have ZEO complaints about a weak launch/launch window lineup. Below is the official listing of Vita games scheduled to hit retail and digital (through PSN) when the new handheld is released on February 22, 2012. Based on the nice selection of genres here, there are more than enough titles to take care of nearly anyone’s gaming needs. In addition, SCEA has clarified the memory card pricing structure (it’s slightly lower that initially reported by some outlets) as well as announced a bunch of cool accessories, but you’ll need to head below the jump to read all about those…

PS Vita Launch Titles (Pricing ranges from from $9.99 – $49.99 US)

Escape Plan (SCEA, PSN Only)
Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational (SCEA)
Hustle Kings (SCEA, PSN Only)
Little Deviants (SCEA)
ModNation Racers: Road Trip (SCEA)
Super StarDust Delta (SCEA, PSN Only)
UNCHARTED: Golden Abyss (SCEA)
wipEout 2048 (SCEA)
Army Corps of Hell (Square Enix)
Asphalt Injection (Ubisoft)
BEN10 GALACTIC RACING (D3Publisher of America)
Blazblue: Continuum Shift EXTEND (Akysys)
Dungeon Hunter Alliance (Ubisoft)
Dynasty Warriors Next (Tecmo Koei)
F1 2011 (Codemasters)
EA SPORTS FIFA Soccer (EA Sports)
Lumines Electronic Symphony (Ubisoft)
Michael Jackson The Experience (Ubisoft)
Plants vs. Zombies (SOE, PSN Only)
Rayman Origins (Ubisoft)
Shinobido 2: Revenge of Zen (Namco Bandai)
Tales of Space: Mutant Blobs (Drinkbox Studios, PSN Only)
Touch My Katamari (Namco Bandai)
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 (Capcom)
Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour Edition (Sega)
Launch window titles plus Memory Card and accessory pricing are a click away… Continue reading →

Gallery: U.S. PlayStation & PlayStation 2 Demo Disc Library (Part One)

Posted on December 26, 2011 by geelw

Absolutely not a complete set at all (I’m missing about 15 OPM discs from the later end of the mag’s run as well as a bunch of PS1 demos), but there’s a nice selection here that’s always great for reference purposes. It’s too bad US gamers didn’t see a lot of PS3 demo discs like the ones released overseas in the UK and Asian territories. At this point in time I only know of a handful of PS3 demo discs that were released here but I could be wrong. I actually need as many of them as possible just so I can see what actually made it out around the world. I really, REALLY miss the great days of being surprised by some cool US demo discs popping up in the mail, that’s for sure. I have some other PS1 and PS2 demos and Jampacks in a big box of PS1 games (or behind a few hundred games currently stacked on top of a dresser) that I’ll post at a later date.

Gallery: Assorted Preview/Review Disc Library

Posted on December 24, 2011 by geelw

Yes, I’ve kept almost everything I’ve gotten to preview and review (save for stuff I’ve had to send back), so here you go, a bunch of Xbox and PS2 games (plus a paltry few PS3 and 360 ones for good measure). Some are demos or incomplete beta versions, some are complete trade demos, check discs or debug code plus some quirky stuff like that E3 2006 PSP Memory Card. Of note are some titles that were almost to completely localized and SHOULD have been released (Dinosaur Hunting, and Rent-A-Hero #1), an awesome build of Arx Fatalis (it had the infamous “chicken cheat” from the PC version that was taken out of the console game plus a weird save game with a nude barkeep) and some other fun stuff. Yup, that’s Bedlam, an unreleased Sega Saturn game in the last photo (it was a port of a PC game). I haven’t played it, as I don’t have any way to at the moment, but it does have a nice Redbook soundtrack. Despite its popularity, I’m not one for “dumping” stuff, but I’m all for legal emulation on older unsupported consoles or abandonware PC titles.

Gallery: PlayStation & PS2 Demo Library (Japanese)

Posted on December 24, 2011 by geelw

Nowhere as many as I’d like to have and some aren’t pictured here, as I need to move about 500 or so games to get to the remaining few. I’ll update the gallery once I get that mighty task done. Some of these are incredible for what’s on the discs, from memory card download, interviews and exclusive content not seen outside Japan. Stuff like Net Yaroze demos (games made by those who bought the special Net Yaroze PlayStation model), some hilarious commercials and some great demos of games that were drastically different than what ended up on store shelves. The Project Zero disc is a DVD that features CG from the game and some other cool stuff, but isn’t playable. I know there are a ton of these non-playable demos out there, but I’m a lot more interested in trial version discs these days. The one other exception is the Summer Special 1996 disc that has a bunch of game trailers including the first look at Metal Gear Solid. That long movie was created entirely with in-game asset and actually makes the game look like a more action-packed experience than it turned out to be.

SCEA To Release Three More PSP UMD Dual Packs In January

Posted on December 24, 2011 by geelw

Nice. Sony is smart enough to NOT unceremoniously kill off the PSP when the Vita launches in North America, but they are doing something about the rather massive stock of leftover PSP’s and first party UMD’s I hope every publisher with a decent PSP back catalog gets into. Three more UMD Dual Packs are headed to retail in January 2012 and all come highly recommended whether you’re a newly Xmas-gifted PSP owner or a die-hard with the 1000 to 3000 series that hasn’t yet played these gems. To those who somehow don’t know why Sony is still dealing with UMD’s with the Vita about to land in February, there are a few simple reasons. Continue reading →