Category: Video Games

You should go to cabel.name and watch Cabel’s video review of the new DS Lite. He’s put together an informative and humorous intro to what’s slowly starting to become my most sought after gadget.

I remember when Final Fantasy 3 (6?) came out. There was a huge hype surrounding that game and I drug my dad to 4 different stores looking for it. I knew game retailers were allowing you to pre-order the game, but I didn’t. I guess I’ve never dug the idea of pre-ordering. I’m not really sure why. Perhaps it has something to do with the whole hype machine?

That said, I now realize that there is a level of convience in pre orders. You set down a few bucks, and the game store will call you the day before they get it in. You then come in, pay the remainder (if any) and walk out with your game. No guessing when they’ll have it in!

FunEBstopLand (Ebgames, FuncoLand, and Gamestop are now owned by the same parent company) has a pretty lenient pre-ordering system. You have to put down a minimum of $5 toward the game. And if you change your mind you can just apply that $5 toward any other purchase.

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I didn’t pre order Daxter because I thought it would be a hard title to find. The whole reason I pre-ordered Daxter was a demo disk. I’m now on this crazy hunt to find all the demo UMD’s that have been made. So far there’s only a handful, but I think it would be neat to keep collecting them.

Some developers are releasing demo UMD’s for their new PSP games. Which I think is a great idea. Let the users taste the game before they slap down $40 to $50 for a game.

In Japan, Sony has set up Playstation Spots. These are kiosks you can bring your PSP to and wirelessly download demos. The demo’s only last until you turn off the PSP, but it’s a great way to get people in the stores, and trying the new games. I would totally spend waaaaayyyy too much time at FunEBstopLand if we had these in the US.

*I’ve played the demo and I must say. OMFG! This truly is a console caliber game on a handheld. Georgous and fun. I can’t wait until the full version is released.

UPDATE: The release date has been pushed UP! Daxter is coming out Tuesday! Woot!

I’ve been playing MegaMan Maverick Hunter X, a remake of the SNES classic MegaMan X. This isn’t just a straight port, it’s a reinvisioning of the origional game with updated graphics, an entire second game that lets you play as the bad guy, and a decent 30min long movie explaining the backstory. I was in love with the original. In fact, I most likely have a folder somewhere with all the level passwords written down. 😉

The biggest difference from the original to this rendition is the fact that it’s all 3d. There’s no pixels, just polygons in a 2.5d style. I love the updated look, it really adds depth (no pun intended) to the game. But, it’s weird not having pixels to judge where you are. The polygons seem to make thing just a tad more difficult to get around and judge distances. This, in general, makes the game just a tad bit more difficult to get use to. I am enjoying the widescreen presentation and remixed audio. Very Nice. I recommend it if you’re looking for a solid platformer for your PSP. Be warned, there is one caveat, it requires Firmware vers 2.5 🙁

According to Gaming Horizon Capcom is releasing a PSP port of the great Dreamcast game PowerStone. Not just the first PowerStone, but both 1 and 2! When I picked up my Dreamcast (about a year ago!) PowerStone was instantly one of my favorite games. It’s a multi-player fighting game, similar to the ever popular Super Smash Bros. on the GameCube. It’s offically going on the list!

Today I bought X-men Legends II for the GC. I sat my wife down, explained the controls and tried to play a few levels. About 10 min into playing I started explaining how you level-up and can learn new abilities. She looks at me and says, “Like in Pokemon, when they evolve?”.

Yes dear. Just like Pokemon.

In all seriousness, we played for a good hour or so, and everytime I wanted to explain something in the game, I just related it back to Pokemon. It works! She’s familiar with the game mechanics of the Gameboy games so for us it’s a simple comparison.

Who knew; Pokemon is the great equalizer.