Vilge Duin

We have... Daxter Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters Metal Gear Acid 1 & 2 Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness Jeanne D'Arc GTA: Vice City Stories Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles Ratchet wasn't too good in all honesty. Decent for what it is, but not even remotely as good as the others. What I have tried of Daxter, it's a great little game, especially if one is interested in the Jak series. Dracula X, I'm not to fussed over the Rondo remake (or even the old version) but portable Symphony of the Night with updated script and voice acting? Great. GTA is rather enjoyable, but I have difficulty with the controls at times. Disgaea, FF Tactics and Jeanne are all great strategy RPGs, which all suit the portable idea. I tried playing Metal Gear Acid and didn't get too far into it. Found it quite interesting, but I'm not too good at it, and screwing up based on not understanding something is frustrating. Haven't gotten to the second. And Portable Ops I unfortunately haven't even played yet. Which I should. I'm mindly interested in God of War, but my girlfriend more prefers that type of stuff. I'm quite piqued about Crisis Core but am not sure if I'd want to purchase it. Likely will, but need to know more about it.

Picked up Eye of Judgment. It was an annoyance to set up, with the lighting and all, but was quite nifty once it was working well. The card system isn't too shabby either. Albeit my girlfriend beat me soundly twice in a row with little difficulty, so I suck. But eh.

I used to love Pokemon, especially when it first came out. The original game was awesome. I still have my fire red cart. Even kept it after I sold my Gameboy colour and games to a friend. The show's early couple of seasons were enjoyable (watched them every morning before heading off to school) and I even dabbled in the card game (albeit having been interested in stuff like Magic, Star Trek CCG, Star Wars, etc. I wasn't too interested).... but I gradually grew to hate Pokemon. That said though... I have again grown interested in the games again. I know dick all about 2nd generation forward and have no clue other wise. But we picked up both Diamond and Pearl a few days ago (I blame Brawl for it to be honest... damn Pokemon) and I'm mainly curious as to what other games we'd need to "catch'em all". I'm curious in picking up FireRed and LeafGreen but not sure what we'd need to just get all them between me and my girlfriend. I'm pretty sure we also need to pick up Sapphire and Ruby too right?

I briefly went over to Gamefaqs to find out how to do this one challenge I didn't quite understand, and the sheer stupidity and eliteness of the place is brain shattering. And the number of topics I saw where people were just asking innocent questions or just curious about things were instantly met with outright snobbery and dick headedness. Well, it is Gamefaqs after all. We beat Subspace emissary a couple days ago, and fuck the last boss. That one super move the fucker does is nigh impossible to time the dodge right. 3 times in a row no less. Had to drop it from very hard to normal to beat him. Some of this game's challenges are outright cruel. Namely the all star intense one. Either that's going to take a lot of effort, super quick reflexes and no errors, or a whole shitload of coins in continues. It's always the damn Pokemon that screw me over... Lucario, Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Squirtle, Charizard and Ivysaur pretty much all at once? Why? That's just mean...

The English Patient was one of my favourite movies a few years ago. Especially after I read In The Skin of a Lion by Ondaatje, and came to appreciate certain themes and elements more. I haven't seen anything else from Minghella though, but from what I know he was a good director. Sad for someone to go at only 54. That's a young age.

Lola is the greaser chick who cheats on the lead dude with Jimmy. Mandy's the head cheerleader. At least that's what I remember. Haven't played the game in a year.

The only cover I've ever heard that truly bothered me was when I heard Avril Lavigne do Fuel by Metallica years ago. The giggling, and knowing she didn't care thats he was fucking it up, just made it all the worse.

1. Deadpool 2. Scarlet Spider/Spider-man (Ben Reilly) 3. She-Hulk 4. Wolverine 5. Captain America Honourable mentions to Iron Man, Gladiator, Gambit, Cable, Ultimate Thor and Blink from AoA/Exiles. Spider-man would have been number 1 years ago, but all the crap that's gone on over the years has diminished him sadly... And The Punisher of times yore would be fit too, but I grew to disagree with the idea of the character and especially Garth Ennis rendition.

I'll be popping on in a few minutes for a couple matches.

Taste the rainbow indeed Norris, indeed. And Tywon, our first match before Norris joined... Me driving a landmaster straight off stage... Sad indeed, sad indeed. EDIT: No need to double post... Well that's enough for me tonight. Good rounds gentleman. Twas quite fun. Norris, you're taunts actually had me cracking up. We definitely need to get some sort of tournament going.

BWAHAHAHAHA!!! Jigglypuff is the woman! 11 kills in Cruel Melee. Only got a Liquid Snake sticker for it though. But damn Jiggly is awesome in this. Got 2 with Marth previously and 6 with Kirby, almost had one with Dedede but got knocked out a second before. But 11 with fucking Jiggly. After playing more of the Subspace emissary yesterday I really do wish Nintendo would have allowed more options in stage creator. The areas and backgrounds during the latter sections of that are awesome looking. Playing All Star on Intense and trying not to lose a life the whole way through is outright evil...

A lot of people got into the FF games via VII, and subsequently if not then, a lot started with 8. Very serious (generally) titles compared with what became of IX. What they fail to realize, which many people still do, IX was considered an "end to an era" that was meant to celebrate the entirety of the series going to the next generation of titles (X, XI and XII). Having played the very first FF in 1990 at the ripe age of 5 and then on to the subsequent IV, VI, VII, VIII and then V in Anthology, including the Gameboy games (despite not really being FF) and Mystic Quest, I appreciated the hell out of IX. It truly is an immense and fun game with a lot of variety. However the story can feel a bit dull at times with the Queen being a horrendous villain and Kuja only seemingly being any good near the end. And outside of the main four (Zidane, Dagger/Garnet, Steiner and Vivi) the playable character cast is weak. I hated the inclusion of Necron though. I actually played through I-VI with my girlfriend awhile ago. We started on VII but stopped just at Don when XII came out. I started up X again not too long ago (at the Moonflow), but I feel the desire to go through VII, VIII and IX again. Suppose I should get around to them once my current Smash Bros. addiction subsides a bit. Then there's my lingering game of FFT on the PSP just before Elmdore. Damn games...

Jigglypuff is quite awesome. She's just the absurd little cute character that has no purpose. I despise Yoshi and can't stand him, but wouldn't want him removed. I'm against anyone being removed. They could easily all fit in the game if they tried. I actually wish more villains would have been added. King K.Rool, Ridley and at least an extra 3rd party character (primarily Megaman because he's like... perfect for Smash Bros.). One nice touch I noticed, with All Star Mode, was the fights were chronological to series. Game & Watch, Mario, DK, and so on. But it really made me notice the disparity in mascot creation. Almost every character in the game comes from 1993 or before. Only a handful are recent, with Olimar being from a game that was released in 2001. Seriously... in 6 and a half years Nintendo hasn't created a single new character worthy of being in the game? I'm deliberately ignoring Lucario as he's just a Pokemon, any of which could be in his place, one of which as mentioned by others should be. Seriously, barring those two (Olimar and Lucario) every single character is from 1996 or before (well Wolf in 1997). Just makes me wonder why Nintendo doesn't seem to bother anymore. And Norris, I have unlocked the extra stuff (what there is at least) for the stage creator. It's just very limited. Most things I want to use are useless by Nintendo's odd restrictions. Namely the structures. That spacing around them makes them rather unweildy. I'd love to stack some columns on top of each other for instance, but can't, due to the extreme restrictions. And only having 3 themes is dull. They could have easily allowed access to the in game stage resources or at least the Subspace Emissary stuff. And more features! The more the better. I love the whole moving platform, falling bricks, etc. But... I want lava. Why can't I have it? Sure, you get spikes, but I want some variety. Of which, every mode in the game has tonnes of it, except the stage creator. Like for instance, why can't I invert anything? The one moment that crushed my hopes for the mode was the instance I tried to flip a spring upside down and couldn't. I then tried flipping other stuff but nothing can be turned upside down. Yet, there's the arrows that seem to indicate you can, but obviously you can't. It just seems haphazard and slap dash. I've actually made a few levels out of the limitations that I think are quite fun and unique, but I don't see myself doing much with it in the long run due to lack of variety. Despite all the time in development, a fair few parts feel underdeveloped. If only a bit slightly rushed. It's still an awesome immense game, but certain aspects are lacking. And after having more time with the game and all of the characters, the only one I truly don't like is R.O.B. From a in game and out of game stand by. You remove Roy, Pichu, Mewtwo and Dr. Mario and put him in? Why? He's not even from a game. Speaking of Dr. Mario... Wario makes it woefully obvious that the game would benefit greatly from different costumes, as does Zero Suit Samus. I think it would be awesome to play as Paper Bowser for instance. Or have Shadow be an alternate for Sonic. How about pig style Ganon? Tetra as a Zelda substitute? Since they're not that different, stick Fox, Falco and Wolf as alternate costumes (the supreme laziness of their final smashes makes it easy). Snake could have had an old school style outfit reminiscent of the first Metal Gear. Toss in Louie as an Olimar skin. How about Blood Falcon for Captain Falcon? Sure, not everyone could have a costume or variety, but why not? We don't really need Lucas, just make him a skin of Ness. Would have added some variety.

I am in absolute love with this game. There's a fair bit I could complain about (not enough characters of my choice, some rather redundant features and a horrid create a stage mode)... But fuck have I not had this much fun in ages. The game is filled with random content and should provide tonnes to do in the future. The challenge is so enjoyably scalable its just plain awesome. Easy is easy, and intense is intense. Actually, I can't even do intense, but that's not the point. And it's the small touches that are enjoyable. Snake's codec conversations, the clear homages and references in Subspace Emissary to the ridiculous number of songs. Had to break out the Gamecube controllers though. Anything else just seems odd. Tried the wiimote/nunchuk combo and it was okay, but I prefer the Cube's controller. As it stands though, I'm loving Dedede, Meta Knight, Wolf and Pokemon Trainer. Snake's almost there for me, but I still have to get a handle on his moves better. My old standbys of Link and Kirby are also great still along with a seemingly better Pikachu. I find Meta Knight handles better during 1-on-1 encounters He deals damage like nobodies business but his smash ability isn't too good, resulting in others 'stealing' his KOs from under his nose. Dedede is a crowd clearer and his smashes are immensely strong. And Wolf just seems like Fox/Falco turned up a notch with slightly varied (and improved) moves. The stages are also quite awesome. The Pirate Ship, Lylat Cruise (if only for the visuals), Pokemon Stadium 2, Castle Siege, Summit, 75 M, Mario Bros. and Shadow Moses Island are my favourites. Smashville for its simplicity, Warioware for its cleverness and Mushroomy Kingdom for its weird nostalgia are also fun. I'm also glad I still have a tonne of characters to try out, stages to fully experience, songs to unlock and challenges to complete, despite the time I've already placed into the game... This thing is immense.

Yeah, the Abomination does look a bit odd. Very familar though. The teaser was decent enough. I'm not the biggest of Hulk fans, but it looks decent. Glad to know there's going to be a bona fide knock out dragged out super brawl. I've wanted a true epic showing from a superhero movie for awhile and this looks like it will deliver. Well hopefully.

Yo.

Pressing the direction and hitting the attack is a guaranteed smash for me, so it makes no difference. I just despise waggle shit. Just preference obviously for people. I also added the two of you as friends. Should actually be ~S&W~ after I realized you can only have one name per console/game. I'm not too impressed with the online right now. Tried starting a random brawl and sat around for ten minutes beating the sandbag to death. Then tried being a spectator mode and got an error at the beginning of the match. The betting idea seems interesting at least, but considering you're just literally banking on a character and nothing else... eh... Played a lot of Subspace Emissary for about 4 hours, and we're only 42% done. I like the very basic idea of it and such, but as I've seen reviews say it can get dull. And I'm more pissed off with the incredible cheapness of some of the deaths you can have, but no biggy. But the buggers teased Snake in a box and we've yet to get another glimpse or even encountered him. Hope he of all the characters has dialogue though, but likely not.

Picked it up a couple of hours ago. So far I'm quite impressed. Had to track down batteries for our second Wiimote since our rechargables seem dead. Played a couple of random vs. stuff and then tried out the Subspace Emissary thing. It's quite fun, and I'm almost sad to say it's the best "story" Nintendo's done. Been trying to test out the various different things. Haven't even seen much of anything. My girlfriend's presently trying out the stage building thing, which looks amusing enough. The new Metal Gear Solid 4 song is rather excellent. Getting a handle on the Wiimote + Nunchuk will take getting used to, but I can't place with wired controllers anymore, they irk me. And why do you have to wag the Wiimote to pull off a smash? Just press over and attack at the same time, just like always. My friend code is 0087-1979-6344 with WEN being my name/initials/whatever.

I generally tune out most game soundtracks. I find them grating a lot of the time, especially licensed soundtracks. I just usually can't stand most of the music. Even the GTA's aren't innocent. I found myself putting it on the talk radio shows instead of the music stations, and even at that I only found 3 or 4 stations decent enough to listen to. Normally I just pay attention to TV or listen to other music while playing most games. However, when it comes to certain series, I tend to want to listen to the in game soundtrack. Mostly stuff that are immersive. Like the Final Fantasy's for example. They're actually just overall good soundtracks. My girlfriend's listened to them and liked them, yet she's never really bothered with the games themselves. Nintendo, as has been said, is also good for their in game music. I just wish they'd continue going orchestral instead of sticking to archaic midi's.

Just got a call from EB and our pre-order is ready to go for tomorrow at 10am. They're opening early apparently. Can't actually wait... More than two years of waiting is finally over.

I picked up Army of Two today, so I'll likely play that online sometime.

Already have it pre-ordered and paid for entirely. Just have to walk in when they get their shipment. It's pretty much the only reason I wanted a Wii, and I do believe I'll be quite satisfied with it. I've personally been avoiding the Smash Bros. website and deliberately overlooking various things on other places so I can have as pure a first experience with the game as possible. Should be cool to see all the modes and cool extras they've tossed in. I literally almost can't wait for Sunday. Haven't had a feeling of anticipation like this since I was a kid when Christmas came round.

They're not that obscure, but suppose they count since they just popped up in my head and no one really ever talks about them anywhere... Uncharted Waters: New Horizons This game was fucking immense. Numerous interconnecting characters and storylines. Deep and rich gameplay. Be a pirate, be a trader, get revenge for your father, pay off your depts, explore the new world! It was all awesome. Aerobiz: Supersonic I don't know why but I immensely enjoyed this game as a kid. It was incredibly fun. Rock 'N Roll Racing Blizzard before they were Blizzard, and an awesome fucking soundtrack, some cool tracks and characters... Olaf > All.