Friday, December 28, 2012

Awesome Box Art of the Week: The Last Story


Bad Box Art of the Week: Sports Champions 2

Looks like a K Mart ad from the 90s.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Christmas Cover Art Gallery

It's almost Xmas time. Let's take a look at some awesome and not so awesome Christmas themed box art.








Also Merry Christmas to my followers, I hope you all have a great holiday season.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Old Game Commercial: Tatsunoko Vs Capcom

Americans rarely get awesome game commercials. However, a few years ago, Capcom changed that with this little gem. It looks like Robot Chicken vs Capcom, and I am completely fine with that. Too bad this game didn't do too well, but fighters on Wii were doomed from the start.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Theatrhythm vs. My Wallet

I am a big fan of Theatrhythm Final Fantasy for the 3DS. The game has tons of replay value, and lots of fan service for Final Fantasy gurus. The one thing that bothers me is the sheer volume of DLC available and it's pricing. The game has roughly 50 DLC songs available for purchase at .99 cents a pop. So, basically if you want the whole game, retail cost of Theatrhythm 29.99 + 50.00 = 79.99. That is a lot of cash, and let's be honest, why couldn't they stick half of those songs on the fucking cartridge in the first place?
Square Enix released an updated version of the game for iOS yesterday, so now you can rock some Final Fantasy music on your iPhone 4s. However, only two songs are included. The rest of the music will cost ya. This wouldn't be so tempting for me if they didn't add really cool new stuff. New characters like Ramza from Final Fantasy Tactics (I missed him) and Auron from FFX are among the new DLC. In addition, new music tracks are exclusive to this version like the badass One Winged Angel remix from Advent Children. Sadly, after doing the math, if you want everything for the iOS version, it will add up to around $134.00! Also, if you only own the original iPad (like me) then you can't play this game because it needs gyroscopic technology found only in later Apple products. Somehow my iPad is obsolete three years after purchase...
Anyway, I can only dream that Square Enix will release this new content from the iOS version in the Nintendo store. They really love money so I think they will...eventually or they will just make a new 3DS version will all of the DLC included to milk fans for even more cash. I won't complain too much as long as my saved data transfers over to the new version. Yes, I am that pathetic.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Christmas Gifts for the Hardcore Gamer in Your Life

It is almost Christmas, that magical time of the year when we buy too much shit for the people we love to celebrate the birth of Jesus and the wonders of Capitalism. It can be hard shopping for geeks, we are very picky about gifts and most of us have the cynical attitude of the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons when it comes to expressing our true wants and desires for Christmas ("Just give me a gift card, I know you haven't heard of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona or Battlestar Galactica...sigh.") Fear not, I am a geek, and I will help you make some great selections for that gaming guy or gal in your life.

Gaming Consoles

When I was kid the only people who could afford a Neo Geo console were the rich or the very rich. I really wanted arcade quality games at home but I had to settle for the Average Joe's choice, the SNES. However, SNK is giving us grown ups another chance to relive the dreams of our childhood, and it is slightly more affordable this time around. For $199, you can now buy the Neo Geo X, a portable Neo Geo that docks into a console shaped charger with a TV output. The system includes an original style Neo Geo arcade stick and the console is pre-loaded with 20 games. While you can get these games for much cheaper in other formats, this is a great collectible for SNK fans or people that love old arcade games without the budget for a vintage AES Neo Geo.


Another portable console to consider is the Nintendo 3DS XL. It is basically a bigger 3DS with a bigger screen, but that is good enough for an upgrade in my book. Also, if you were a Nintendo ambassador (aka 3DS early adopter) your free stuff transfers to the new system. The 3DS is a great system (even with it's region lock nonsense) and the library of games is getting better every week, so there is no reason not to invest in one of these. It is certainly doing better than the Vita (sorry Sony, but I am starting to regret my purchase.)

Games

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is a fighting game packed with value and top quality production values. There are over 56 characters to choose from, a variety of play modes, customizable costumes, ending movies galore, and customizable music. This is the ultimate Tekken game with a great tag system and a fun online ranking hierarchy. A fighting game fan simply cannot go wrong with this one.

 Final Fantasy Theatrhythm for the 3DS exploits fans love for the classic music of the famed RPG series, but that is a good thing. If you know someone that is a Final Fantasy fanboy or fangirl, then they will pee their pants with joy over this game's playlist as they enjoy tapping to the beat of awesome songs like "One Winged Angel" and " Battle with the Four Fiends." This rhythm game has over 70 tracks, tons of unlockables, and a shitload of DLC songs if they somehow get bored with the existing track list.

Persona 4 Golden is an upgraded version of 2008's classic PS2 RPG for the PS Vita. This console quality RPG is amazingly deep and loaded with new content like social links with Adachi and a new chick from the Velvet Room, cool changeable costumes for dungeons, and a new town to explore with a freakin' scooter. RPG fans with a Vita cannot miss this game, especially since it is one of the few Vita games worth owning at the moment.



Assassin's Creed 3 combines American history, crazy science fiction, and beautiful graphics into one stunning package. The game concludes the story of Connor, so it maybe hard to understand the overall narrative if you haven't played the Assassin Creed series, but this game can be played without prior knowledge of the AC lore ( though I do recommend at least a primer on Youtube about the origins of the Templars and the Assassins.) If you have a graphics whore on your list, this game should whet their appetite.

Other Cool Stuff

Duke Togo from Fewture Models

Dark Knight Rises on Blu Ray

Hardcore Gaming 101 presents Sega Arcade Clasics Vol. 1


Friday, December 7, 2012

Sexy Limited Edition PS3s

The Playstation 3 has seen a few hardware revisions, from the old PS2 playing fat model to the latest slim and light model that only plays digital PS2 games (ugh.) The latest slim PS3 leaves a bit to be desired in the design department, but that doesn't mean some companies aren't trying to make a few pimped out PS3s for people with money to burn. Feast your eyes upon magical Japanese limited editions you will never own...












Yakuza 4 PS3: the most awesome looking console this generation


Hokuto no Ken PS3: the manliest of all consoles
 These limited edition Playstation 3's are too rich for my blood, but somehow I was lucky enough to find the Final Fantasy Dissidia PSP used for $90.00...

So sexy, yet my UMD is broken. Oh well...


Monday, December 3, 2012