I didn't stand in line for the midnight release. I couldn't afford to get it from a local game store day one. But now I got it. Nintendo 3DS is finally here, and the air quakes as the curtains of the new era opens. The hype is immeasurable as I open the box and lay my hands on the aqua blue beast. Was it worth it ( Read more... )

To the untrained eye, Donkey Kong Counry Returns is just what it sounds like: Donkey Kong is back with yet another installment of the series, and with him all the tropes we have come to expect. Like the old days, but new. But as someone who grew up playing the originals, I was actually surprised how much it didn’t feel like a belated sequel. On the ( Read more... )

( Or as I like to call it, Golden Sun 3. Second to last paragraph could be considered a spoiler; nothing much plot-wise, but still. )

Winter 2010 was THE year of the gamer. Usually we’re lucky to get one or two hits every seasons; last year was so smack full of them, I still haven’t gotten around to half of it (I’m looking at you, Enslaved). The most mind-blowing of these for me were Golden Sun, Donkey Kong and Sonic 4, three series I’ve been in love with since childhood; to get ( Read more... )

I’ve yet to get around to playing Flower. I’ve yet to write a non-NaNoWriMo novel of decent length. I’ve yet to earn my own income. I’ve yet to finish watching the second season of Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex, which I started several months ago. I’ve yet to finish watching Pokemon in Japanese. I’ve yet to get myself a DS Lite. I’ve yet ( Read more... )

Final Fantasy XIII-2 was announced yesterday. My reaction was neither Sigh nor Wohoo; just a “What?!” then “Meh.” It’s an interesting though; this is a world that could sure use some elaboration, and there is a lot of room for improvement. But seriously, this makes the third Final Fantasy XIII-related title on its way, which when you think about it ( Read more... )

Last November, my mini-laptop met an untimely end. Apparently that particular brand had a manufacturing problem that not only made it crash occasionally, but susceptible to permanent breakdown. Go figure. Falling back on my stationary unit, I contemplated ever since as to whether or not I ought to replace it, and finally decided it was for the best ( Read more... )

I think it would be fair to say that for every generation of stationary console, there's been a throw-back console in form of portables. When Nintendo 64 was king, we still had newly made NES-equivilent games on the Gameboy Color, and Gamecube had the portable SNES that was Gameboy Advance. The DS had all the potentials of an N64, but played more ( Read more... )

Usually I'm not a big fan of games that beckons you to do a hundred different side quests at once, forcing me to personally seek out the main plot. That's why I never got into Oblivion, or really any American RPGs. Maybe it's because I'm so absent minded as it is, but I prefer it when games doesn't confuse me as to where I'm supposed to go or what ( Read more... )

Back in the early 80s, when Arthur C. Clarke wrote a certain novel called 2010, he thought we'd be traveling to Jupiter, that we'd be using wall phones, and that Soviet would still be around. With only a few hours left of this futuristic year, we can establish that although none of these things actually came to be (we use tiny screens in our hands ( Read more... )