Back In Action

It's so nice to have a kick-ass computer again... I played through the single-player campaign in Modern Warfare 2, and it was totally sweet; great set-pieces and high production values deliver a fantastic solo game, so there really is something there for everyone.

I've since moved on to Halo: Reach, and it's really solid so far; I'm about 1/3 through a solo campaign. I'm still working through Ys Seven as well, and still having lots of fun there.

Recent acquisitions include Ivy The Kiwi and Resident Evil 4 (gonna give it another try) for Wii, and I finally found a reasonably-priced (though sun-faded) copy of Earthbound for SNES along with a reproduction cartridge of Earthbound Zero for NES... Yeah, I'll find the time for Fable II, Metroid Prime 3, and Yakuza 2 at some point, I'm sure ;)

Resolution

Steam was running in Compatibility Mode on my Windows 7 machine... I'm not sure why. I put a stop to that, though I had to edit the registry to do so.

Performance on that same machine had become sluggish and choppy, and the cause turned-out to be the ASUS-provided drivers for my ASUS PCE-13N wireless network card; I've since installed Ralink drivers, as the card is built around a Ralink RT2790T chipset. All runs smoothly now.

Still regarding the same machine, I never could get all three sticks of RAM running together stably at 2000MHz, despite an extensive discussion with a G.SKILL technician. They offered to allow me to RMA the whole kit (2000MHz, 9-9-9-24-1N) for something a little more tame (1600MHz, 7-7-7-21-2N), but I tested the current kit at both 7-7-7-21-2N and 9-9-9-24-1N at 1600MHz, and the performance difference was negligible; I'm talking a latency difference of ~3ns (61ns vs. 64ns) and a bandwith difference of ~20MB/s (67.66GB/s vs. 67.68GB/s). Given that the RMA process would leave me without a functioning computer for a few weeks and neuter my upgrade path, all for a trivial speed increase, I think I'll be keeping the 2000MHz RAM and running it at lower frequencies.

So all is now well, and I am at peace :)

Escaping The Mouse

Alan Wake (and "The Signal" DLC) was great! Remedy has done a pretty good job of keeping things fresh and interesting; the gameplay never became tedious, and the story kept me guessing... I haven't been able to bring myself to complete a survival horror game since Resident Evil 2, and I couldn't put Alan Wake down until it was complete. Well done!

Anyway, I've been away for the past week... Wrapped-up most of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game before I left, and it was glorious. Buy it. It's cheap, nostalgic, epic, visceral, and fulfilling. The movie's pretty awesome too, as are the graphic novels... Yeah, I'm a fan, and it has nothing to do with the fact that the whole thing takes place in my actual neighbourhood or that my band has played the same venues featured in the books/movie/game ;)

Shank's up next for me, but I'm suffering from the stuttering cinematic issue that's been going around; I've yet to fire-up the game to see if there's a patch.

I brought Ys Seven along while I was away, and it's pretty sweet. Good graphics and music, standard story, engaging gameplay, and awesome boss battles that are genuinely challenging. I never did finish the first three games on TurboGrafx CD, decided to abandon all hope of doing so once the PSP remakes were announced, and have yet to try Ys VI on PSP... But it's supposedly the same formula each time, so I figured this'd be as good a place to start as any. It was a toss-up between Ys Seven, Lunar Silver Star Harmony, and Persona 3 Portable... As well as a bunch of other quality PSP RPGs I've yet to explore.

Moving on, remember that RAM issue I was having with my new computer? G.SKILL approved my RMA request and I got a stick of RAM in the mail last week... But there was no correspondence once I sent the faulty module away, or paperwork shipped back with it. The module they sent back doesn't work either, so I'm wondering if they just returned the old one (it would only fail under specific conditions, which I outlined in the RMA request) or the replacement is faulty as well. Grrr. In the meantime, I'm running at DDR3-1600 speeds :|

For myself.

I bought a complete copy of Air Zonk for TurboGrafx-16 for myself for my birthday on Wednesday :)

Yup.

The Best-Looking Upcoming 2D Games

Legacy

I picked-up copies of Soul Reaver for Dreamcast and Soul Reaver 2 for PS2... For convenience's sake, I guess. Also snagged a copy of Rabbids Go Home for Wii 'cause it was cheap; haven't played it yet.

I did, however, sit down with Limbo on XBLA, and if I hadn't gotten sick over the weekend, I would've finished it in one sitting; sweet game, slick presentation, powerful imagery.

Kinda wishing Prince Of Persia was over already so that I could focus on Alan Wake... Not that Prince Of Persia is bad, but it's all feeling very repetitive and I'm only a little over half-way though the game.

Anyway, a friend recently came to me with a need for a motherboard, CPU, RAM, video card, PSU, and case with a strict budget of $600 before tax... Here's what I suggested:

• Gigabyte GA-P55-USB3
• Intel Core i5 750
• OCZ DDR3 1600MHz Gold Edition Low Voltage 4GB (2x2048MB)
• Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5670 1GB
• Cooler Master Elite 350 Mid Tower Case w/350W PS

More Than Nostalgia

Just got Wonder Boy III for SEGA Master System and AMOK for DOS/Windows... I'd never played the former, and now I'm wishing I had; it's so very much better than the second Wonder Boy/first Monster World game! I can't wait to take the time to really get into this one. As for AMOK, it was a favourite of mine back in the day, but I never could find the PC version. I snagged the Saturn version not too long ago, but playing it at 800x600 in 16-bit colour with a keyboard is the way to do it; even considering that I had to dust-off my Windows 98 SE machine (300MHz Pentium II, 196MB of PC66 RAM, and a 32MB AGP ATi Rage Fury) to get it running :) Both games hold-up incredibly well today!

3D Glasses!

I watched Coraline in 3D on Blu-Ray... The effect was pretty cool, but the colours sucked.

Anyway, I also picked-up a pair of SegaScope 3-D glasses along with Blade Eagle 3-D, Maze Hunter 3-D, Missile Defense 3-D, Poseidon Wars 3-D, and Zaxxon 3-D. The first adaptor card I got (used to connect the glasses to the system) was faulty, but the second one worked fine. The effect is novel and the games're pretty creative, but I did notice a few issues. The most glaring problem I ran into was with Blade Eagle 3-D, where there appeared to be two ship sprites when your ship descends; it looked like a focus issue, though I suppose it may be intentional... Which would be weird. Anyway, moving on, when I play light-gun games I tend to close one eye to help my aim, but doing so in Missile Defense 3-D negates the 3D effect. Regardless, I'm pretty impressed with the technology, and the games aren't bad. Now to track-down the three remaining 3D titles...

Epic

Picked-up a complete copy of Mickey Mania for SEGA CD... That game is really pretty :)

Awake

I snagged a copy of Alan Wake for $50 yesterday (it's still hovering around $70 at most stores), and put Prince Of Persia on hold while I checked-out the first chapter. So far, so good; Alan Wake may just be a survival-horror game that I can stand! I haven't completed a survival-horror game since Resident Evil 2...

Oh, and after winning the first seven games of the first round of the playoffs in NHL 07, the game declared my team to be the Stanley Cup champions... And then the first round continued with two more games. Ergh.

Going Back

I really dug the first Kirby game when it was released on Game Boy, but didn't really follow the series beyond that. I've been collecting the major Kirby games since, but really only got back into them today, when there was a huge blackout in my area. I ploughed through Dream Land, and am well into Dream Land 2... Only eight or so more Kirby titles to go! :)

Oh, and I defeated the boss in Wario Land: Shake-It! Then, in true Wario fashion, a bunch of secret levels were made available. I'll get back to them some day, I'm sure. Everyone who complained that the game was too short clearly didn't bother with all of the challenges and secret levels. Shake It! is definitely a worthwhile Wii investment.

Finally, I borrowed Way Of The Warrior and DOOM for 3DO from a friend after he found his Goldstar 3DO in his basement. Way Of The Warrior is every bit as ridiculous as I remember hearing it was back when it first came out, and also exceedingly difficult to play. It does have some really nice touches (graphics, music, secrets), and after doing some research on the title, I uncovered what looks to be an impressively deep fighting game... But I'm not quite ready to dedicate that much time to it just yet. DOOM, on the other hand, is just as awful as I'd heard. The 3DO port is barely playable, and the only redeeming qualities are the killer CD soundtrack and the ability to strafe using the shoulder buttons. Avoid.

Oldschool Heat

I'm having a lot of fun with Atari Karts on Jaguar. I often see it described as a Super Mario Kart clone, but it really is a very different game. While they are both kart racers, Nintendo's offering demands a balance of driving and combat whereas Atari Karts focuses almost exclusively on the former. Bonuses and hazards in Atari Karts affect your own kart (speed, handling, tires, etc...); the only offensive pick-up in the game reverses your opponent's steering, and is exclusive to multiplayer races.

I've also read numerous complaints about Atari Karts' graphics, but I suspect that many critics forget just how blocky the graphics in Mario Kart are. Atari Karts runs at a much higher resolution than the Super Nintendo game, and features some clever scaling tricks to achieve hills and jumps throughout many of its tracks. Another misguided complaint I've often seen is that the Jaguar game is too easy, but races become genuinely challenging by the mid-point of the race season... Perhaps those critics didn't play for very long ;)

There are some legitimate issues with Atari Karts (like the unnatural bumper-car physics, and how some obstacles are flat on the track and can blend-in to the road), but all of them are minor and don't significantly detract from the fun to be had. Quite simply, Atari Karts is a driver's kart racer with a gentle learning curve and some of the most impressive sprite-scaling graphics of its generation.

---

I bought BIT.TRIP RUNNER on WiiWare, and it's a great combination of delightfully frustrating gameplay, catchy and interactive music, and fantastic '80s-inspired visuals. Get it.

I've also finally taken the time to explore the free Windows version of Cave Story, and it's sublime; I'll definitely be grabbing the WiiWare remake and really digging into this one.

Oh, and Sin & Punishment: Star Successor is really good too! It's a new twist on the shoot-'em-up genre from Treasure; that right there should be enough to sell you on it.

Before I move on from the Wii, I should note that I've made it to the final battle of Wario Land: Shake It!, and it's... Annoying. It's not actually that bad, but it's definitely gonna take some practice.

Finally, do you remember when I thought my PC was overheating because of the weather, and so I took the side off my case? Turns-out it was actually the increased voltage required to get my DDR3-2000 RAM running at 2000MHz that was affecting my CPU. I've been messaging back and forth with a technician from the RAM manufacturer, but we've had no luck yet... In the meantime, all is stable at DDR3-1600 speeds.

Busy Again

My XBOX 360 doesn't seem to be displaying blue fuzz anymore; I kept the newer Jaguar (and power adapter, and controllers) once I was informed that the warranty sticker on the older one wasn't an Atari sticker, and once I discovered that neither of the consoles had the analog-input circuit; and I traded the old Jaguar and extra games for copies of Sin & Punishment: Star Successor and Super Castlevania IV... Though I haven't had time to play either of them.

128-bit?

I bought a second Atari Jaguar. This one's in better condition, cosmetically, than my first one; it's a later model (higher serial number, smaller power adapter), and doesn't have a warranty sticker like the first one. This second system came with two controllers, an RF switch, and loose copies of Atari Karts, Evolution: Dino Dudes, Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure, Tempest 2000, and Val D'Isere Skiing & Snowboarding.

I'll keep Atari Karts for sure, but I'm not sure which of the consoles, controllers, and power adapters to hang on to, and which to sell.

Fuzzy

My XBOX 360 started displaying blue visual artifacts while playing Braid... The issue was still apparent when I popped-in SSF4. It wasn't a particularly hot day or anything and visual artifacts are a common symptom in overheating GPUs, so I'm guessing that my console is on its last legs. Some may recall that I got this 360 near the end of December 2006; that means that in three days, this system will be 3.5 years old... Or exactly six months out of warranty. So do I play it until it dies? Pay to get it repaired? Trade it toward a used replacement? Splurge and grab a new 360 S? Then again, I played Price Of Persia for a while without issue after the fact, so perhaps it's not quite over yet.

NHL 07's playoff situation is getting more frustrating by the day. Six-game suspensions for too many game misconducts after one playoff game? Disappearing simmed games? I give up. I really hope that NHL 11 is coming to PSP; I will buy it as soon as it's available.

Thirteenth? Sixteenth?

Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars is the 13th game in the "Vs." series, right? I guess if we're counting both versions of the original Card Fighters' Clash games, the "Pro" version of Capcom Vs. SNK, and the "Cross Generation of Heroes" version of Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom, it becomes the 16th...

Anyway, I took the time to get familiar with it this past weekend, and I'm loving it! Great graphics, plays beautifully with an arcade stick, the music is far less annoying than what we got in Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, and the gameplay mechanics feel genuinely fresh. I'm especially impressed at the versatility of the controls; how it's not terribly overwhelming for newcomers to the genre, but deep enough to keep more serious players interested. By the way, I'm sticking with Casshan and Batsu as my team at the moment.

Es... Three Of Them.

Rayman Origins is the real show-stealer at this point; that thing looks awesome.

Otherwise, I think Nintendo's had the most impressive showing overall. Goldeneye 007 seems confused (Daniel Craig?) and Donkey Kong Country Returns feels like a step backward after Jungle Beat, yet both still look like a hell of a lot of fun. Kirby's Epic Yarn is amazing in terms of its visual presentation and gameplay design, 3DS has me genuinely excited, and Epic Mickey is looking much better than I expected after seeing those early screenshots. The new Metroid, Zelda, and Kid Icarus games are all intriguing, but haven't really gripped me like the others.

I've seen some pretty impressive stuff from all companies (for example, I'm really digging the look of Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow), but Rayman and that tidal wave of Nintendo goodness is just drowning out all the Halos and Killzones...

Oh, and I can't seem to get past the first round of the playoffs in NHL 07 on PSP. I've now beaten Florida six times (something like 5-2, 10-1, 3-1, 8-1, 3-0, 3-0), but it keeps making me play them. If I sim to the end of the series, it doesn't start the next one. Grrr...

Playoffs

The playoffs in NHL 07 on PSP seem to be broken... The game crashed consistently when trying to start the first round (I saved manually, simulated the first game, then re-loaded the save to get around that), the calendar doesn't seem to track games properly (my 10-1 game two win over Florida seems to have disappeared from the record books), and there doesn't seem to be any way to check playoff stats. Not fun.

Profit

I found Final Fantasy Tactics, Front Mission 3, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, and Xenogears for PlayStation (all complete, non-Greatest Hits) for ~$40 at a used record store, bought them, and then walked down the street and got ~$80 for them at a used game store.

I've also recently picked-up Prince Of Persia (360); The Conduit, Punch-Out!!, and Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom (Wii); Kirby 64 (N64); Uniracers (SNES); Aoi Blink, Barunba, Rabio Lepus Special, and Ryūkyū (PCE); as well as Ninja Gaiden II and III (NES). I also snagged an Hori Fighting Stick Wii and a Turbo Booster for my TurboGrafx-16.

Now then, to follow-up on my last post, Tomb Raider: Underworld is easily one of the best of the series, and I highly recommend playing through Legend, Anniversary, and Underworld. There're issues with these games, and those issues are even more apparent after great titles like Assassin's Creed raised the standard of the genre, but these modern Tomb Raiders are still very entertaining. Regarding Anniversary, while it is a remake, it serves as a reminder of past events that are important to recall when playing Underworld... I didn't finish Anniversary, so I had to read the Wikipedia entry on the Underworld plot to make sense of some parts :)

F.E.A.R. 2 really feels like more of the same from the first game, but rendered with MUCH nicer graphics and presented with a few new gameplay elements. I loved the first one and I really enjoyed this sequel, but it just didn't blow me away this time. Worth your time if you're a fan or if you've never played any part of the series before, but not exactly groundbreaking.

Prince Of Persia is visually gorgeous and an intriguing change of pace for the series. It feels more deliberate than the three previous games; more akin to the original in terms of control and pacing. The exposition is a little awkward at first, but I hear it gets better as the game progresses... Unfortunately, I don't think they'll suddenly re-cast the voice actors and tone down the ham-fisted clichés. Considering that you can get this one for $15 now, I'll gladly overlook the cheesiness and backtracking... At $60, however, I would've been much more disappointed.

So very tired...

Tomb Raider: Underworld was pretty sweet, but not without its faults; F.E.A.R. 2 was really good despite feeling like more of the same from the first game; Prince Of Persia (2008) is off to a solid start, but I'm already noticing potentially big annoyances; Tales Of Monkey Island has been great throughout.

I'll go into more detail when I'm not half asleep.