There’s been a great deal of excitement in Greenvale this week, as it’s gone out on the grapevine that there’s going to be a LOT of new visitors starting next week. Actually, some people are there already from what I’ve been seeing around town, which is both good and bad. The good is business is absolutely BOOMING at both the A&G Diner and Swery 65 Bar, the tips are generous and there are lots of new friends being made all over town. The not so good? Well, try and get a good cup of coffee or a beer in a timely manner at either place and yep, it’s suddenly a pain seeing all those new faces. FBI Special Agent Francis York Morgan (just call him York!) isn’t happy with all these new people getting in his way while he’s trying to wrap up his Red Seeds Killer case file, but he’s about to get a little more unhappy as this overly thrilled employee of the Greenvale police force runs into him and knocks him down, as he’s just heard that there’s now a game shop in the town and there’s this new title he’s been hearing about that he’s just DYING to play…
And of course, that game just so happens to be Rising Star Games’ Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut, exclusively for the PlayStation 3. Those updated HD visuals, PlayStation Move and 3D TV support, new DLC, Trophies and more are all getting a few citizens of Greenvale quite hot and bothered. Of course, that means more PS3 sales and less people out and about once they get their hot little hands on the game, so perhaps York is going to get some relief after all. Well, once he gets up off the carpet and has the footprints cleaned from his suit, that is… ouch.
Did you know that Game Director Swery 65 is STILL celebrating the game’s release? I asked him about this after his sixth one and was told that he’s simply taking care of all his partying at one time because of the different release dates in a few territories. He said he plans to stop and rest for a bit once the North American version comes out, but I just realized he really doesn’t need to. Why? Well, dear reader… In Greenvale, the beer can’t get you drunk at all (it’s digitally created!), so you can drink as much as you want and never feel a thing. Of course, if you play around on the options screen, you can reverse that effect and pretty much pickle your liver in about three sips… but who the hell wants to do that? Enjoy responsibly, people!
Speaking or artsy things… even though the release date is less than a week away, did you know you can still 
Of course, if you’re a really highbrow kinda guy like Game Director Swery 65, you know all about art and appreciating it for what it is. Hey, you don’t get to smoke huge cigars and sip fine cognac because you happen to have them lying around in the house like a can of beans, y’know. Sit down with the man for a smoke and snifter and he’ll probably regale you with tales of the good olde days of making art and how he’s turned into one of the more recognizable names in his field in such a relatively brief time. That, or he’ll just ask if you’ve played his new game and what your favorite part was. I’d say you better have a darn good answer, as those big cigars and cognac aren’t cheap. I’m betting that’s a good 
Vanillaware’s latest game, 
Kamitani’s larger than life gals do a damn good job at kicking all sorts of ass all around the screen, and I’d gather that the character in question will see her fair share of real-life cosplayers who like the outfit and Kamitani’s singularly pneumatic art style. As you can see here, some of the guys in Dragon’s Crown are exceptionally beefy (and even less dressed in some cases). Granted, I’m quite sure the audience for this will be primarily male, but I can recall quite a few gals and guys into Vanillaware’s excellent beat ’em ups buying the glorious Odin Sphere and/or Muramasa: The Demon Blade and not whining about boob size as an issue. Not to mention that it’s kind of foolish to fault an artist’s work because you don’t grasp his style… 
One person who’s very probably having an ABSOLUTELY fine Monday is Game Director Swery 65. I’d bet he’s pretty much sitting around in a bar or coffee shop somewhere checking his email, having a(nother) tasty burger and beverage combo while updating his Facebook page with a quick post or Instagram photo (or both) and just hanging out enjoying himself while he waits patiently for the first reviews to roll in. I’d say he’s got nothing to fear in terms of too many gamers and editor-types NOT liking the game, as it’s already gone through that wringer once and is now seen as a genre classic by many who fell under its strange spell…
Well, there goes the rest of the week, folks. I walk in from working on a few posts and there’s a copy of Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen waiting for me. Nice. Hmmm… I see from the included Fact Sheet that loading up that old save I have will net me a cool 100,000 Rift Points, a nice set of gear and some other fun stuff, so I’m going to have to NOT pass up that chance to score all those goodies and see what this “expansion” packs on that disc. I say “expansion” because it’s a lot more than a simple add-on and nope, you don’t need the first game at all to play this one.
Watching and listening to series Producer Hideo Baba talk about his beloved Tales franchise will make anyone want to pick up a controller and play whatever lands on these shores. The latest in the long-running franchise (which started on the Super Famicom back in 1995), Tales of Xillia breaks new ground for the series by combining the distinctly different art styles of the series two key character designers (Kosuke Fujishima and Mutsumi Inomata), blending them flawlessly in a larger and prettier overall game. Toss in “Empress of Pop” Ayumi Hamasaki singing the theme sone, a refined battle system and the usual Tales quality bumped up to a nice PS3 shine and you get a game fans should be more than pleased to play…
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 