If anyone does read this blog, and wonder why I haven’t updated in forever, well it’s because I became a writer over at gamegirl.com! Check out the site. I’m going to be converting this seldom used blog into something of my own hobby site in the next few months.

As I sat down and watched the Spike Video Game Awards, it was filled with it’s usual disappointments. I couldn’t watch for 30 seconds without be bombarded to eat Burger King while drinking Mountain Dew, chewing Stride Gum, and joining the army. The show was also full of celebrities gamers wouldn’t really care about. Marisa Miller was most annoying, it’s was obvious how little she wanted to be there. I felt Jack Black was a fitting host. The opening made me chuckle if only that I enjoy Tenacious D’s fighting-the-devil humor. There were some enjoyable appearances, I liked Neil Patrick Harrison’s segment. Peter Moore presenting Fight Night was pretty cool. Although they proved most certainly though, that nobody anywhere should ever let Mike Tyson speak. This biggest letdown of all though, was of course the awards. Let’s cram most of our two hours with ads and musical performances from terrible bands (who even likes the All American Rejects?), and rattle off almost 30 awards to you in one minute.

Winners

* Best Shooter: Gears of War 2 (Epic Games)
* Best Xbox 360 Game: Gears of War 2 (Epic Games)
* Best Indie Game Voted by the Fans: World of Goo (2D Boy)
* Big Name in a Game: Kiefer Sutherland (Call of Duty: World at War)
* Gamer God Inductee: Will Wright (Sim City, Spore)
* Best RPG: Fallout 3 (Bethesda)
* Best Music Game: Rock Band 2 (Harmonix)
* Best Soundtrack in a Game: Rock Band 2 (Harmonix)
* Studio of the Year: Media Molecule (Little Big Planet)
* Studio of the Year: Little Big Planet (Media Molecule)
* Best Driving: Burnout Paradise (Criterion)
* Best Game Based on a Movie or TV Show: Lego Indy (Traveller’s Tales)
* Best Fighting: Soul Calibur 4 (Project Soul)
* Best Multiplayer: Left 4 Dead (Valve)
* Best PC: Left 4 Dead (Valve)
* Best Portable: Professor Layton (Level 5)
* Best Wii: Boom Blox (EA Casual)
* Best Individual Sports: Shaun White Snowboarding (Ubi Montreal)
* Best Female in a Game: Jenny McCarthy as Tanya in Red Alert 3 (EA Redwood)
* Best Performance by a Human Male: Michael Hollick as Niko Bellic (Grand Theft Auto IV)
* Best Performance by a Human Female: Debbie Mae West as Meryl Silverburgh (Metal Gear Solid 4)
* Best Graphics: Metal Gear Solid 4 (Kojima Productions)
* Best Original Score: Metal Gear Solid 4 (Kojima Productions)
* Best Action-Adventure Game: Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar Games)
* Best Game of the Year: Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar Games)

Special Announcements

* Gears of War 2 ‘Combustible’ Map Pack
* Fight Night Round 4 in 2009
* EA debuts Dante’s Inferno title
* Pearl Jam’s ‘Ten’ available in Rock Band in March 09
* Terminator Salvation game announced
* Brutal Legend will be awesome

Highlights of the show for me were the Uncharted II (ohh Nathan!) and God of War3 previews. But the real saving grace of the entire show was bring out TIME SHAFER in a chariot with a flamethrower to introduce the new Brutal Legend trailer. That was inexplicably awesome.

God of War

Uncharted II

Brutal Legend

Sure made this fan happy

So the Shin Megami Tensei Imagine: Online when into closed beta yesterday. You can sign up for it on thewebsite. It’s completely free, so I think I’m going to give it a try. I’m a big fan of the Shin Megami series and it’s subsequent offshoots. Although I will admit, with Persona 4 hitting shelves in 2 days, this game went completely under my radar. That is until today when it was brought to my attention.

Set in between Shin Megami Tensei and Shin Megami Tensei II (Both release on the super famicom), and not in any of the other universes (Persona, Digital Devil Saga, etc.). The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo, where demons run rampant. You get the choice to play three different class. Law, Chaos, and Neutral, all fitting into this dilapidated society. Sounds like an Akira fan’s wet dream. Here’s to hoping it’s good.

I’ve been playing through Mirror’s Edge, and I absolutely love it too death. I wasn’t so skeptical about the first person free running when I saw the trailers, and I haven’t been disappointed. The time trials are ridiculously fun, I love trying to find new ways to keep the momentum going. My only thought was maybe an online race function with other runners might have been fun. I’m sad to see this game isn’t selling so well, but I was expecting that. Most people either weren’t sold on it, or didn’t want to try something new.

I’ve also been playing Left 4 Dead on my PC with friends. Fighting off the zombie horde is SO MUCH FUN with 3 other players. I’ve found that Bill has stolen my heart in particular. Something about his wry old veteran wit. I think out of all the infected, I hate the boomers most. Everytime my screen gets vomited on, I get severe frame rate drop because of the 100 zombies now on my screen. Anyone with me or do the other infected get on your nerves more?

Lastly, I just bought my PSN copy of Street Fighter HD remix, and it is AWESOME. I have yet to coordinate an 8 player match with some of my buddies. I’ve been having so much fun going back and replaying what is still one of my favorite fighters. I still stand by the statement that I’m happier with this game than SFIV.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving <3 Stuff your faces with either Turkey or Tofu. Depending on which version of cooking mama you are.
<— ( me)

I had fun running around and killing zombies in first person. I don’t understand where all the talk about innovation comes from. Yes the game is immensely fun when you have friends to play with, but there is nothing new about it. One could argue that nothing can really be “new” anymore, and everything is just rehashed. But there is still the aspect of taking old ideas and putting a new spin on them. Doing something creative. While this is nothing more than a multiplayer Zombie FPS. I played a similar game 8 years ago in arcades, it was called House of the Dead. Am I’m saying Left 4 Dead is a bad game? Not at all, I was having alot of fun with it. As usual, I was very impressed by the graphics, and how the A.I. tailored itself to your experience. I couldn’t imagine trying to program more then a random script generator. I have nothing but respect for Valve, all I’m trying to say is I head too much talk about it being a revolution in gaming, and it’s not.

Also I really can’t recommend it to someone who is playing alone. It loses all it’s fun when you’re not playing with at least one more person. With that said happy gaming! I’ll be getting my complete version off Steam’s store: http://store.steampowered.com/sub/1134/ what about you?

My favorite is the No More Heroes cover. I cracked up.

Original article here:

http://the-minusworld.com/2008/09/16/atari-modern-classics/

The new Legendary Cars pack will include the Jansen 88 Special (or DeLorean DMC-12?) with hover capabilities. Unfortunately there will be no time travel once the car reaches 88 MPH. Rumors also say the new pack will also include the Ecto-1. They just don’t stop delivering!

Star Ocean: The Last Hope had new screenshots released:

Looks pretty, but I’ll save my judgment on the gameplay. I was a very big fan of Star Ocean 2, and not so much into the battle system in Star Ocean 3. I’m more looking forward to SO: Second Evolution than this 360 exclusive.

Our new president, whether you agree with the election or not, it was a pretty interesting turn of events. But now onto the more important thing, games!

戦場のヴァルキュリア

Yesterday I went and picked up Valkyria Chronicles. As soon as I had played the demo last week, I knew I had to have this game. Gamestop almost denied me my artbook pre-order special, but thankfully I found a nice employee who let me have one.

I fear that this is a game that will probably go unnoticed this holiday season because of all the other big releases coming out. Developed by the same team that worked on Skies of Arcadia, seems like Sega is finally giving us some real quality again. The watercolor and crosshatching graphics is just beautiful to watch, and fits in perfectly with the entire book theme of the game. The gameplay is unique, a mix of strategy RPG and over the shoulder shooter. While being turned based, it doesn’t feel restrictive like most traditional RPGs. Characters are charming and well voiced, which makes the story very intriguing. I can’t wait to delve further into it.