29Oct2006 1704: Aangticipation
Absolutely vital informations: the Avatar episode originally rumored to, y'know, air in October has been delayed two weeks now, but for some reason there's now an official site where you can watch the whole thing. Thanks, Nick! Now...just stop airing that damn puppet show afterwards.
Finished Touch Detective today. Took me less than a week, which means that (a) it is rather short and (b) it gripped me and wouldn't let go. Hooray for possible sequels!
28Oct2006 0127: Dead or Apocalypto
It has just been brought to my attention that December 8th is going to be awesome. One-two punch!
25Oct2006 1904: Touching is good
I'm taking a brief break from punching things really a lot for the new Touch Detective. The DS is spearheading a new charge of old-school adventure gaming with its perfect touchscreen interface. I've already loved Trace Memory and Hotel Dusk isn't here yet, but in between I have taken up the cause of young Detective Mackenzie and her agency-in-training.
I'm a little past halfway in Case 1: Robbery, and I can already tell it's worth the $30...to me. Most reviews are complaining about the obtuse puzzles, but everything so far has been pretty clear. This coming from somebody who's beaten Return to Zork, King's Quest 7, 7th Guest, and The Longest Journey. I doubt anybody at IGN can say that. Most complicated puzzle I've had to attempt so far is to obtain and huff magic shrooms. I tripped the light fantastic and saw a walking paper bag. Dude.
22Oct2006 1707: One Inch Punch
God Hand is a game best enjoyed after one beer. You're still sharp enough to hit all the combos and guard breaks but you're loose enough to roll with what your eyes are seeing. What did my eyes see today? A gorilla in a pro wrestling costume, five midget Power Rangers, and a succubus that likes to kick puppies and drive around in a magic RV. By their powers combined, they are stage three.
This would be amusing if it were not vitally important as an American citizen that I find it distasteful.
18Oct2006 1945: Man Up
I splurged a little last week and came up with God Hand to tide me over until Touch Detective. The guys I trust to have strong opinions on everything invoked the cherished name of Shatterhand and I decided I could use some more punching in my life.
You know I play games, right? Like, a lot? Okay. God Hand is ass hard. Somewhere in the neighborhood of Shinobi hard, but I've been assured that there are 99% fewer bottomless pits. So far I've spent about ninety minutes just trying to reach the first boss and am looking forward to spanking circus whores. This game resembles Shinobi in more than difficulty; even the minorest enemy can kick your lily ass but when it clicks? When you're hitting all the combos and dodging smoothly from warrior to warrior? That's the high I got from Shinobi.
As usual, the Insert Credit discussion hits its stride with a combination of truth and vulgarity.
13Oct2006 1303: Guitar Jesus
I know there are lots of Guitar Hero players that are better than me -- and then real guitar players above that -- but I'm a fair hand with the GH. It has recently been brought to my attention that "fair" may not be good enough. I'm going to sprain both wrists and an ankle playing that song.
10Oct2006 2126: Sneak King
Mark your calendars! On November 19th -- scant days after the Nintendo Wii release -- Burger King is releasing advertigames for the Xbox 360 (with purchase of value meal). So for $400 Xbox360 + $4 game cost + $value meal you too can tread the mystical path of the King. There's a kart racer and a bumper car game, but what all the Intertubes are abuzz about is the mighty Sneak King and its iconic screenshot. Gist: you are the King sneaking up on people to present them with a Cheesy Beeffast Sammich or Mega Fries or whatever. You get points for doing so based on how elaborate your delivery is.
This morning the list of online Achievements was released. From this we can infer that (a) you score points for fancy delivery plus there is a letter grade for a mission; (b) there are at least 80 deliveries to make; (c) there is not only a Flourish move, there is a level three Flourish. As pointed out nearly everywhere Sneak King is discussed, the low price point and creepy-yet-awesome gameplay seem set to dethrone Chex Quest as the greatest food-advertisement-videogame ever made.
09Oct2006 1812: When the Cicadas Cry
After spending a lot of time with it this weekend I can unequivocally recommend Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. Higurashi is a totally vicious show about a doomed town and the doomed children that inhabit it, plus -- and this totally doesn't give anything away -- closed temporal loop. The best kind of loop.
06Oct2006 1528: The Miinthenorium
The Nintendo Wii will feature portable 3D avatars called "Mii"s that you can import into games or just watch wander your console's barren interior. The Mii creator has been demoed a few times, enough to be recreated nearly in full. For the record, yes. It has also been mentioned that if you mark your Wii as some sort of open Mii nexus, your Mii can get uploaded to a central server and show up randomly on other people's Wiis. As with all things on the Internet, this has gotten some people pretty excited while simultaneously being what is essentially a framework for global hooliganism.
04Oct2006 1817: Scurvy
I have written about this everywhere else I can think of, and now I write it here: Captain Dan and the Scurvy Crew.
Did you click that? Because you goddamn need to. You just don't know it yet. You need to scroll down on that page and watch their video, too. Hell, maybe your scrolleemabob is broken; I'll remove that barrier for you. It features (in this order): a busty rum wench, Legos, Captain Jack Sparrow, and HeroScape.
I mean, I watched that video a week ago when it was linked on Something Awful, but today's revelation that there was a full CD! I <3 pirates! I also heart rap that isn't "real". I just came off of three straight days listening to Great Big Sea's discography. You cannot imagine the fury with which I clicked Captain Dan's PayPal link.