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So many damned great games out on the Wii now and people still have that attitude. Oh well... At any rate, now that the game hit my reasonable price range($30 or less), I'm definitely gonna be picking it up post haste as I missed Odin's Sphere on the PS2(another game I should grab off Amazon). I love the beautiful art direction and off beat style of both games. For some reason I feel like the game hearkens back to to Saga Frontier.

This is why the opposition will never be successful with their attempts to get videogames banned. They never dig deep enough to sound like they have a compelling argument. It's all "there's violence and sex in this game! Ban it!" without looking at the actual product or the context.

It's probably best to call Fragile a straight up adventure game with a pretty depressing and dreary setting. I'm pretty excited about it myself. And I've heard of Monster Hunter for years, although I don't know that much about it. I'm interested in the Wii version, but could somebody give me the gist of what this MMO crack is?

Ok, so I finished all 17 missions of Sky Crawlers last night(and more than a few rounds of free mission mode), so now time to talk turkey. For $30, you're essentially getting Ace Combat on the Wii with great motion controls that admittedly take a bit of time to get used to, and plenty of replay value. The game itself is a prequel set 8 years before the original Sky Crawlers novel/anime, which itself is a novel series of about 4 or 5 books(I wouldn't know as my experience is with the movie only). While having background knowledge on the series would help to understand the universe, it isn't entirely necessary as like I mentioned above, it's pretty much Ace Combat, and it should be being that it was designed by the same Project Aces team at Namco. Gameplay follows you going through 17 different missions ranging from escort, attack and interception, land raids, etc. using different prop planes during an alternate WWII-era timeline. The controls are simple(sort of): Using the nunchuck in your dominant hand, you control roll/turning and pitch like you would on a flightstick, while using the Wiimote to handle throttle, braking, target selection and yaw(on expert controls). Given the timeframe, you won't be using anything other than guns and anti-ground bombs, which means that "fire and forget" mentality from usual Ace Combat games is gone, which leads to a much more up-close, visceral and satisfying dogfighting experience. In addition to having a great degree of aviation freedom thanks to the Wii controls(you can also use a classic or gamecube controller if you're not up for it), there are special maneuvers such as barrel rolls mapped to the analog stick on the nunchuck for rapid access. Another nice feature is the ability to "track" your enemies with a special gauge that fills up over time, then pressing the A button to do some crazy acrobatics and wind up behind your foe, which lets you make a quick(and awesome) kill. While sorta cheap, it is still pretty cool to watch and actually becomes useful later on. In addition to the standard "pick your plane and weapons before a mission" AC shtick, you also have a certain degree of freedom in customizing certain elements in your plane such as wing types, engines, cockpit type, and several different paint jobs. While not too compelling, it does at a degree of personality to your style of play. Production values are pretty decent, although as per most flight games, you aren't going to see a huge amount of detail on the ground, and another personal gripe is that the damned AC mission timer still makes it's appearance here. All and all, it's a great experience, and if flight games are your thing(like they are mine), you'll probably enjoy it quite a bit, and for the price it's a bloody steal. Go out and give it a shot, and happy gaming.

I've known Xenoblade was in development since it was announced(I think either E3 or TGS last year), although I really preferred Monado: Beginning of The World as the name. I don't know that it will actually be a part of the Xeno series, but if it IS intended to be a new entry in the series, here's hoping it doesn't follow the same path as the Xenosaga Trilogy, I.E. boring as a rock combat with bad pacing, drab level design, and 30-minute long(although very pretty and interesting) cutscenes. Also please don't use the same voice actors as Xenosaga Ep. II if English dub is a must. I'm always interested about whatever projects Mist Walker is handling at the outset of development, so I'll be looking at The Last Story with interest, however I do hope they give it a proper name change instead of keeping the synonym to Final Fantasy. Then there's the fact that Hironobu Sakaguchi hasn't done much at all to keep me interested in either the Blue Dragon series or Lost Odyssey, being that they were so damned vanilla in their execution, so I can't say that I have more than cautious optimism. At any rate, hurray! More RPGs for the Wii.

This is the effect I'm really hoping this game has on the Wii. I might have to grab it just for that sole reason. Here's to hoping for high sales.

I myself don't have a big problem with the Wiimote Dpad, but the biggest turn off to the stick is that you're paying 80 bucks for basically one game. I might consider grabbing the game eventually, but I have enough fighters as it is, plus I'm worried about accessibility for my non-fighting game fan friends.

Pokemon Topaz and Jade versions announced!

So I picked up Sky Crawlers for $30 earlier today. Thus far I'm on mission 4 and I can say one thing for sure about the game. It's hella fun. I'll give my full thoughts once I finish the game, but so far it's going great.

Friends are just enemies who you haven't killed yet.

This is an incorrect assumption. I'm sure a lot of people here like JRPGs. I for one love JRPGs. I just don't like shitty ones. The only thing Star Ocean: TLH had going for it was a semi-decent battle system, a few funny moments in the PAs, and the option to skip cutscenes and just get a quick summary of events. Motoi Sakuraba is a great composer... In doses. Much like any other composer(or anything else for that matter), once they're essentially put on a production line like he was for Infinite Undiscovery, Tales of Vesperia, and Star Ocean: TLH, his stuff starts sounding like the same, bland, unimaginative stuff over and over. It's like he's turning into the Hans Zimmer of game composition.

If I still had a DS(a problem I hope to rectify), I'd definitely be giving it a shot. The ATB gang at 1up says that it's basically Xenogears. That can be either good or bad, but I'd still say give it a shot if you thought Kato could write up a good story.

Nah, I'm a flight game nerd, so I'm totally excited about using the Wii remote and nunchuck as an actual flightstick. Oh man oh man oh man.

Basically this, which is awesome. I love the thrill of a good fight.

I'd agree with your point if all those games you just mentioned weren't ass on a stick. Star Ocean: The Last Hope International? If by "game-play additions" Tri-Ace meant "against all odds we made the game suck less", then sure great. White Knight Chronicles? Well according to 1up's Active Time Babble, they've made significant changes from the last time the game was seen, so who knows? I'm still pretty doubtful. Heavy Rain? I want this game to fail so badly if only because I'm sick of David Cage's delusional, head-up-his-ass attitude as well as the "games as art" shtick. Now if Tales of Vesperia comes to the U.S., that'd be some great JRPG right there, even with its superfluous elements.

Thanks for posting this. I had heard about the game in passing a few times on 1up, but after reading this and then looking up reviews and more info on the game, it seems like a real steal for 30 bucks. I'm actually pretty impressed with all the games companies like Ignition and XSEED are bringing over stateside. Games like this, Fragile, Little King Story, Muramasa, Arc Rise Fantasia, etc. Tip of the hat to you fine people.

Mephisto would know about it. Right now if I didn't already own a 360, I'd probably say go with the PS3. My big problem with either console however is shelling out 60 bucks a game and even 50 just for a new controller though.

Do they just arbitrarily choose which properties they will or won't give? At this point they should just call it Some Cool Capcom Guys Vs. A Bunch of Other Random Dudes.

If more games from different genres that I liked (IE fighters, JRPS, and other quirky japanese gaames) went to the PC, I'd probably make the switch to PC gaming altogether. I guess what I'm trying to say is GODDAMNIT OFFICIAL BB2 RELEASE ON PC GODDAMNIT!! Ok I'm good now.

All I'm seeing are the same exact characters over and over again.

I know that the Hori Wii fighting stick doesn't work with Brawl, so I'd say do your research first. On a side note, does anyone really think this game is gonna sell?

No prob. That's what I do. In this post, I'll be talking about Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. RE: The Darkside Chronicles is an on-rails light gun shooter much like a Time Crisis or House of The Dead game, which chronicles the stories of Resident Evil 2 and Code: Veronica, as well as adding in a new campaign called "Operation: Javier" which is set in South America in 2002 that tells the story of Leon's first mission with Krauser. Being that the game is designed with two-player coop in mind(no drop in/out though), several elements of the RE2 and C:V stories have been rearranged to accommodate having Leon/Claire and Claire/Steve/Chris traveling together. For any hardcore RE lore fans, it shouldn't be that much of a problem as it definitely feels natural, almost like it SHOULD have been that way in the first place. Speaking of lore, this game has plenty of interesting pieces of info and background into the RE series, including audio logs of key characters that explain their motives and such. Since you unlock these archives during the course of the game playthrough, there's plenty of replay value, as there might be up to 15 different hidden archives in one chapter, in addition to plenty of other unlockables like standard extra costumes and such. This game is pretty. I mentioned that I thought The Crystal Bearers looked nice, but this game probably wins my award for best looking Wii game(although I've yet to play Silent Hill). Chapters are decently long and take you through all the usual locales and several new ones(such as a strange "training hall" used by Alfred on Rockfort Island. A lot of the game's environment can be destroyed as well to find gold, herbs, archives and ammo as well. The game is compatible with Wiimote & nunchuck, Wii Zapper(or perfect shot) and nunchuck, or Wiimote only controls, although I personally feel that using a nunchuck allows for easier controlling. Basic gameplay involves you pointing and shooting(duh) at zombies and other nasties that come your way. Headshots improve your score multipliers(and they're so damned satisfying to pull off) among other things like time to complete stage, number of enemies defeated, etc. You can use a bunch of different weapons such as a handgun, shotgun, SMG, grenades, bow gun, etc. as well as your knife and melee attacks(when things get dicey), and you can upgrade the stats on all guns by using the money you collect in stages. The one big negative that this game has that'll either make it or break it for you is the camera. To be specific, the shaky cam that's become a movie favorite in stuff like Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity. Personally I found that it adds a layer of tension and promotes a "when to shoot" attitude. Other than that, I can't think of any at all. I'm an RE fan and while I was skeptical about whether I'd enjoy RE on rails, I found myself loving the hell out of it. I give the game a definite 8.5 on my scale. Zombie-killing and light gun shooters are fun. Resident Evil is fun. This is a no-brainer(HA!). If you liked The Umbrella Chronicles, chances are you'd like this one more. Go out and give it a shot. Happy gaming.

Ok gang, we're gonna be talking about Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers(The Movie: The Game) in this post. Where to start? Well first I think I'll touch on the negatives, of which there are several. For starters, this is not your standard Final Fantasy. Hell, this isn't even your standard Crystal Chronicles game. It's a single-player open-world adventure game with a ton of interesting, yet not compelling mini-games. While not entirely a negative in and of itself, it might turn a few people off from the game. The game's narrative follows an established(in the game world anyway) set of characters and as such, you won't see a huge amount of background and world exposition, which to me was a disappointment, because there was a bunch of potential there. Now on to everything else. I personally enjoyed the game. There's a lot to do in this beautiful world, combat is pretty fun once you figure the ins and outs, the soundtrack is excellent, and the main character doesn't have a huge cloud of melodrama hanging over him the whole time. The main focus of combat is Layle's(the main character and a Crystal Bearer) telekinetic abilities which are activated through the Wiimote. You can pick up objects, toss 'em at enemies, toss people off cliffs, pick up enemies and toss 'em at walls, or other enemies and so on. It sounds pretty basic at first, and you'd be right to think so given that the game does NOTHING to explain how you can interact with enemies and the environment. For example: You're fighting a malboro who has a bunch of its tentacles protecting it. Well, you could try picking up a cactuar, squeeze it so that it fires 1000 needles at the malboro, or toss boulders at it. Nope, that's hardly killing the bastard. Hmmm... Wonder if I could take out those tentacles protecting it? Sure enough, they go down fast and leave different colored bulbs. Well now what? By accident, you happen to grab the malboro and manage to get it's mouth open. AHA! Let's give it a case of indigestion! Wonder what would happen if I threw that red bulb into it's mouth? ...BOOM!!! Explosion! A few more of those ought to do the trick! There are plenty of other interesting things you can do like supercharging electric jellyfish, overloading flans, making goats crap then using their dung as projectiles, etc. I found myself not advancing the story often just to see what kind of crap I could do to monsters(here's a hint: A lot) The storyline is predictable at times, but takes a few interesting turns here and there, it's just too bad that it wasn't as fully realized as it could have been. What's a Crystal Bearer? How does one become one? Are there more? That sort of thing. Also while Layle's telekinetic abilities are cool, it would have been more interesting had he been able to do more with it, like picking up two objects at once, some kind of shield, or blades or something. I have a hard time trying to score this game myself, being that I know I enjoyed it, but most reviewers have been unkind. On my personal scale, I'd probably give it a 7.9. It's a fun game, but so much more could have been done with it. Anyway, give it a shot, see what you think, and happy gaming.

...How is a company trying to make profit funny?

The big players in the console race are trying their damndest to extend this generation as long as possible, with Microsoft touting Natal(their motion control system) as a redefining of the Xbox 360 experience without new hardware, Sony saying that they want the PS3 to have a 10 year cycle, and Nintendo creating iteration and iteration of the DS and still making serious bank on the Wii. I'm personally cool with this. I really don't think we can do much more in terms of A/V fidelity past this generation. It'd also be a good idea to let dev costs go down, and really focus on great experiences, intuitive controls, and better physics, environmental, and AI engines.