I-n-j-i-n

I miraculously beat Silent Hill 2 a few times for the different endings. Couldn't take it after that. heh I can handle anything with lots of guns and crazy stuff happening all over, but I can't handle lonely stuff. Lonely, creepy stuff. Especially if you're stripped of all weapons like I was so glad they announced Resident Evil 5 had the co-op.. Haunting Ground, Fatal Frame... no weapons and I couldn't find myself going through them even if they are well made as games. Eternal Darkness was spooky too, but at least you could go packing with magic and guns/swords in that one.

Lost Odyssey is a definite love it or hate it deal. Personally I love it, but mostly because I really like traditional RPGs. Slow battles, droll dialogue? I don't mind. I still think it's overall one of the better made RPGs for the 360. As for Silent Hill, I'm surprised it's actually getting decent reviews. I'm too scared to play it alone though... I'll let the ultra-game geek I know play it and let me watch..

MM2's music overall is a classic. But I honestly can't recall the sheer feeling of melancholy and dourness the Cossack themes had. I'm just saying it deserves a worthy mention.

Then again, to me, everything about Cossack was better than Wiley. Better and more unique boss fights, the awesome Soviet Russian motif, the music.. Yeah, the SplashWoman/Leviathan and TornadoMan/Harpuia references were pretty obvious. Also, the PUNISHING instakill levels reminds me a lot of Zero's, though some levels in Zero games were actually a bit scarier than MM9's. As for those times and being in top 50's, I guess there might be more of a competition in XBLA because I posted similar times, but went only near top 65's and 70's.

A classic, Chariots of Fire opening: And another classic, Glory ending: It also helps that both movies were amazing in their own right.

Damn, I wish they used some other music for Wiley's castle. I thought the 4 or 5 other classic Wiley stage music were better. Oh well. Speaking of speedruns, that's basically all I'm doing nowadays. I don't even consider myself to be good with the Tornado stage, but I'm competitive at it. Can't seem to get speedy with Galaxy Man stage but it's easy to get better at it.

I'm not saying I disagree, because most Megaman games have their share of death traps. Except I don't think most Megaman really used them as much as MM9 did that's all. It's definitely a really tough game, but it's not unreasonable with the powerups. I think some older games might have been tougher without having Beat or buyable E-tanks.

Soul Eater is very good and has really good animation. I just watched the first episode of Hyakko and it made me laugh more than most new anime premiers. That one could be good too.

So? Now that there's three companies, they're all pumping money into their individual projects, spurring on development (even if it sometimes gets jumbled with the three consoles, now it's basically Wii ports and PS3/360. Not too different from last gen's) and trash talking and one-upping basically created the game industry today. If Nintendo didn't feel like taking on competition (even to the point of suing companies) and start calling names, it wouldn't be where it is now. I kid, but maybe just the gaming division? If there was any type of merger that was possible, apparently it was Microsoft taking in Nintendo when it was near death for a while with the Gamecube. Good for Nintendo to pull themselves together. Though it'd be even better if all consoles were united, that goes against my idea that competition is good. Meh, paradoxes. Considering Sony still has a few casual games going (Hot Shots will always be awesome, even if new next-gen sequels are gimped versions of the old ones..) and Little Big Planet and MS tapping into the simpler games with Xbox Live Arcade, I think that is what they're trying to do already. I just think that both Sony and MS started carving a niche as the more pure gamers' machines and for those in the know. Like how Wii is gathering a horde of casuals and non-gamers. But like with the DSi, I'm just not sure whether they're catering to the gamers in the know or totally casual gamers. But you're right in the sense that they should have some mix of both. Though nice if 3rd parties for the Wii, for example, make anime/kids-show-license games seriously. But that probably will never happen. Like that weird Haruhi dancing game... Interesting, but it's dancing... again. Is that hardcore/casual or whatchamacallit. I'll probably end up getting it too, but it sorta defeats the purpose of freeware games made by the fans for the fans. It just feels weird to pay for it IMO. Oh well, I spent money on Jonathan Blow's Braid, so.. And Newground's Castle Crashers... I wonder if Cave Story will go onto other consoles too.

I simply think the development team went a bit overboard with the instakills because they do realize that spikes = difficulty. But I sorta missed the laid back aspect of oldschool Megaman games where you mostly need to worry about the crazy enemy behaviors instead. I'm starting to get the hang of it though, and a few stages, I can probably start making serious speedruns. And Galaxy Man definitely resembles the oldschool types of levels a bit more. Much less brutal and actually much more classic than the other stages.

The DS was a whole new system and Lite was a definite improvement. DSi just piles on the unnecessary updates, goes backwards on the battery life, failed to live up to the 'two touch screen' hype, and in general it even failed to impress the stock holders apparently. Almost everyone seems miffed at the DSi and for good reason. It's not 'token bitching' at all. Did people whine when the slim PSP came out? No. Neither with DS Lite. And wow... more downloadables and oldies? That's nice, but... AGAIN? Basically the same trend with PC gaming nowadays. You just don't get games that are too deep and involving on PC platform like you used to. Not as many sims and much less RTS and hardcore games. It's all about short downloadables, Steam downloads, casual games, flash based games, online-only application games, and even casual-catering MMORPGs. And of course, games like the Sims are basically created for the casuals and non gamers and its expansion packs are ALWAYS on the best selling list. It's no experiment at all. They're going to keep at it maybe for good. I really don't see what's so intimidating about 'hardcore' games other than that it may not cater to non-gamers. That's about it. Nintendo is still doing pretty decent with the hardcore stuff except the only thing I'm miffed is that they tend to dumb down some games for the sake of casuals. Like how you can never die in Zelda games anymore, or how items basically rule Mario Kart and not hard skill. At least Mario is still a decent challenge. Also, the only people who seems to complain about difficulty in getting used to a videogame are non-gamers or those who have heavy biases against gaming. They are better off not playing videogames, no-less, ones that cater to actual gamers to begin with. Catering to everyone doesn't sound like a plan to me. Keeping some games for gamers is important as I see it. I really wonder about system power because I think Nintendo has said that even the next gen, it's not automatically going to be a high def experience (I hope they change their mind if that really is the case) and PS3/360 caliber hardware is still decently pricey. We'll see how much the prices will go down by then. With all the multi-core and complicated chipsets, I won't be surprised if it's still decently pricey in the end. As for harboring in 'loyal' fanbase, I honestly don't think that really works. People jumped from Atari to Sega to Nintendo to Sony to Microsoft depending on individual console efforts and the actual games. It's not like Sony or MS will suddenly stop having their stock of games and following up on their own innovations. I'd rather really not see one console dominate again. That led to Nintendo being lax with the N64 and Sega just losing their minds with Sega CD (when they were almost neck to neck with Nintendo in popularity). I think the three way battle has served gaming much more than hurt it. Though it'd be nice if all the hardcore games were on one console. Microsoft, buy out Sony's gaming division already.

You might have a point, but somehow I still feel disappointed. So we get a new Warioware (for me a must buy), Mario & Luigi (must buy), Punchout remake (ANOTHER REMAKE), etc. It's still nothing really groundbreaking and just about all the new 3rd party games are music/rhythm/mini-game based... blah. If that's to be the case, then strangely, the iPhone is a bit ahead of the game and the PSP (or the future PSP2) will be miles ahead by a year or two from now. The iPhone can already detect movement and tilt, apparently has better processing power than the DS, full touch capability, already has the niche with the 'cool kids' arena and Apple can become billionaires selling their little widgets and apps. Really, I think their insane success with the casual gamers is... well... making Nintendo crazy. They're on a huge upswing the last few years, so I'd imagine they'd get down to planet Earth sometime soon. I mean, a camera? Web browser? OOOohh, a slightly larger screen... because we need the standard viewing aspects instead of the widescreen that's to be the future. I bet they're saving that up for the next one. As for the hacking, if it makes hacking safer for the software/hardware than doing it with the current gen of DS systems, I might consider it too. Or maybe not... Way too much money in moderate increments of system functionality (except for the slight brightness and the lack of razor-edge of the first DS).

I sort of want to watch it now. I know at least that no movie can conceivably be worst than most Uwe Boll movies I've seen or Ultraviolet... Ugh.. Ultraviolet.. People laughed at that movie in theaters. The loudest jeers I've heard in my life.

I'm sort of scared for the shorter battery life, their emphasis on apps (again, why are they competing against the iPhone, again?), a CAMERA, and a web browser... I mean, they're just jumping into all the cliques they have been supposedly against. And it doesn't really make sense to semi-upgrade the DS to do it. Why not wait for a true next generation?

Megaman 3 simply didn't have the number of spike traps MM9 seems to have. I can breeze through Megaman 3 pretty easily. I can't say the same with MM9. I mean, all Megaman games are difficult by default. But the damn spikes and insta-kill stuff is what gets me in MM9. It's almost too much in some levels. Play Megaman 2 and the only thing that usually gets you killed are the enemies.

I'm playing the 360 version for the achievements and honestly, it's still a very good version. I won't mind a Wii version, but the anti-aliased 360 version is not bad in any means. The d-pad issue is also pretty overblown as I see it. It plays fine as is. I don't even have a functional standard definition TV anymore, so it'd be sort of moot to force the Wii version in my HDTV anyway. I guess it'd fit much better on standard def from what I've been hearing. Also, I don't think the game is considered tough simply because some people have never played the classics. By FAR this is the hardest Megaman game I've ever played with the exception of Megaman 1 maybe. I never played a Megaman game with so many spike traps and very lengthy pitfalls with little room for error. Having Rush Jet makes things much easier, but this game has a lot less room for error because of the liberal usage of spikes. It's almost as if most of the normal levels are like some of the Wily levels from Megaman 3-4 with spikes literally being everywhere. I am playing Megaman 2 recently and most of the stages are outright benign compared to MM9 design. So nostalgia/newage gaming issue is almost moot as I see it. MM9 really IS that difficult.

Who says they weren't miffed with Kojima? Kojima is full of shit. Itagaki sounds like a total genius in comparison. Kojima can't be taken seriously with all the stupid BS he keeps spewing about the state of videogaming.

I honestly see no point with the new version. It's like they're making it for the hell of it and not because they need to get anything accomplished. And a bit disappointing that the top screen isn't touch-sensitive like rumored. Are they feeling threatened by the iPhone or what? DSi? Come on...

Honestly, that is some pretty scary newsbit. I stopped using credit cards to live my life, but tons of people (especially Americans) do. Now it's all impinging on everyday life. This is getting serious.

Nintendo has a hand fetish. The Master Hand, the Crazy Hand, the hand from hell in Super Mario Bros 3.

More like MMORPGs spawned off themselves, because oldschool mainstays never really made the jump. I'm on the fence with Fable 2 in terms of buying it on launch. If it gets bad reviews, it's either to rentals or waiting until it's $30 or $20. If it gets "OH MY GOD, BEST GAME OF THE YEAR" reviews, then I might have to buy it. I was still impressed with Fable, except it didn't live up to the ungodly hype.

Thank god we won't be hearing about rampant piracy and DRM issues. Honestly, PCs are becoming a tad bit irrelevant in the RPG front too. Sorta sad, but it comes with the times.

I was startled more by the horrible sound quality of OoT sound effects than anything. It sounded so garbled, everything just sounded a bit creepy to me. I never liked voicing in games that didn't use a CD to do it. Always horribly garbled and creepy.

I'll probably get around to playing it because it IS a big RPG title after all. But the whole 'choose your own destiny thing' was a total letdown in the first game and just about everybody basically passed judgment that it was a letdown in terms of the game's premise. And now they're saying this sequel will fix the faults of the first game. It'd be pretty strange of them to whiff twice.

Better live up to the hype the first game set. If it turns out to be the same shallow game, I won't bother.