I’d say that I’m disappointed that sales of Sega’s new Wii action game MadWorld are more shallow than Steven Seagal’s acting range, but I didn’t buy it either. Besides, when it comes to uber-bloody beat-em-up action, I already have No More Heroes in my collection to tide me over. NMH may only have sold about 250,000 copies in America, but that seems to be enough for it to have grabbed a sequel in the works (partially because it’s Suda51’s top-selling work, outselling both Contact and Killer7, both of which are pretty damn hard to follow).

Category: Video Games
Author: WillyFourEyes
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Tags: madworld, nintendo wii, no more heroes, sales, sega

With the Wii’s internal hard drive capacity much smaller compared to that of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, there had to be a way for hardcore Wii Shop Channel goers to use all of that space they’ve stored on their SD cards, and not just letting those young gamers sit and gather digital cobwebs. Luckily, today’s (?) system update now allows loading of channels/stuff from the SD card (as long as one’s inserted into the system), while still leaves plenty of room for save data. You can’t load saved game data directly from the card, though – that still has to come from the system memory, which isn’t really that big of a loss, I suppose. It’s too bad this hadn’t come along sooner, as it would have saved many gamers a lot of ARRGH! moments when deleting a game they found out that they wanted to play later on.

Category: Video Games
Author: WillyFourEyes
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Tags: memory, nintendo wii

I completed a little-known dungeon crawling action-RPG called From the Abyss a few days ago. My brother pointed it out to me at a Gamestop in the King of Prussia mall. Hey…it was only $30, so why not? I had suspended my GameFly account a little while before I bought the game as a cost-saving measure, so it wasn’t that big of a loss in pocket money. As far as the game itself goes, it’s pretty average (just like its title). You go in, you hack your way through a dungeon (the rooms all look the same, but the configurations are different for each playthrough), get some items and experience, and then you fight a boss. You can distribute attribute points to make your character stronger in certain areas (strength for close-combat-based fighters, intelligence for magicians, agility to make you move and attack faster, etc.), and you can use a few different weapon types, although swords are usually your best bet.

It took me about nine hours to finish, even after exploring every room in every dungeon. The final boss is surprisingly easy to defeat if you learn a special move that increases the speed of your attacks. With the game’s most powerful sword in hand, you can use it when the boss’ head drops, and then go to town on him. I didn’t bother with most of the magic spells, because they cost too much to learn, and many of them aren’t really effective.

With that out of the way, I traded it in (along with the GBA version of Yggdra Union) for Cooking Mama: Cook Off and Castle of Shikigami III (okay, okay, Shikigami no Shiro; there…you happy?) Why’d I do that? Well, I needed to sharpen my skills after finishing all of the recipes in the original Cooking Mama, and I’d already rented Shikigami III previously and beaten it through sheer luck.

Category: Video Games
Author: WillyFourEyes
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Tags: 3-star reviews, cooking mama, finished, from the abyss, nintendo ds, nintendo wii, shikigami no shiro

I’ll admit that I didn’t play as many new games as I wanted to in 2008, since I spent that year focusing heavily on fanfiction and anime. However, I was gracious enough to play through a handful of gems, and I’ll share them with you.

PlayStation 3: I didn’t play much of Metal Gear Solid 4 or Grand Theft Auto IV, but I did get a chance to play Valkyria Chronicles, and fell in love with it almost instantly. Okay, that’s partially because I’m a sucker for strategy RPGs, but I specifically liked this one because of the way it blends turn-based strategy with third-person shooter controls to give you greater control over the battles. Shame it hasn’t sold all that well, as this is definitely a title you should pick up right now. (Honorable Mention: Burnout Paradise)

Nintendo Wii: Super Smash Bros. Brawl. This one’s a no-brainer. It’s stuffed to the gills with unlockable content, and so many crossover characters (including Sonic the Hedgeh0g and Solid Snake) that there’ll always be a reason for you to keep playing. The online play needs to be tightened up a bit, but at least Nintendo’s taking a step in the right direction. (Honorable Mention: World of Goo)

Nintendo DS: Not since the Disgaea games have I spent more than 30 hours on a single video game for reasons other than level grinding. That’s the sort of sensation I got when I picked up The World Ends With You, one of my favorite Square Enix games that doesn’t have the Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts or Dragon Quest branding. The dual-screen combat system takes some time to get used to, but you’ll definitely want to stay for the storyline and quirky characters. (Honorable mention: Space Invaders Extreme)

PSP: Patapon is my choice for PSP game of 2008. It’s hard not to cheer along with those little eyeball soldiers as they go marching down the field to the beat of the drums and the chants of “Pata pata pata pon!” Like Valkyria Chronicles, this game’s a genre blender, so fans of strategy and music games will get the most enjoyment here. (Honorable Mention: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII)

No picks for PlayStation 2, as there weren’t many new games for that system this year with all of the focus on the current-generation consoles (PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360). However, I do recommend Arcana Heart, which plays surprisingly well for a 2D fighter.

That’s about all for this update. Let’s hope that 2009 brings another good gaming year to the console of your choice. See ya!

Category: Video Games
Author: WillyFourEyes
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Tags: arcana heart, awesome, nintendo ds, nintendo wii, patapon, playstation 2, playstation 3, psp, recommendations, super smash bros, the world ends with you, valkyria chronicles

Ah, what a day. I get to rest early for Christmas, since my boss allowed me to sit at home for what would amount to a simple half-day of work. That means I can finally catch up on all of the PS3 games and trophies I’ve missed. Or maybe I’ll check out World of Goo on Nintendo Wii. I’d been meaning to take a look at it.

My DVDs finally got here, and I’m still on pace to win the ROD: The TV box set, but my brother suspects that there’ll be a 23rd-hour bid that’ll beat me for it. I’m prepared, though.

Category: Life
Author: WillyFourEyes
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Tags: magical girl lyrical nanoha, nintendo wii, playstation 3, vacation, world of goo