Awesome Box Art of the Week: Black Rock Shooter (PSP)

Bad Box Art of the Week: Pipe Mania (C64)

Who the hell is that guy screaming in the background?

Awesome Box Art of the Week: Labyrinth no Kanata

Awesome Box Art of the Week: Tokyo Jungle

Bad Box Art of the Week: Raw Danger

Will the end of the of world look this goofy?

E3: The Good, The Bad, and The Lame

E3 2012 is rounding down today. It has certainly been one of the crappier E3 shows of the past ten years, but some cool news emerged and you have to take the good with the bad in life. I miss the crazy days of E3 like when Sega announced in 1994 that the Saturn was going on sale that day at your local Toys R Us completely out of freakin' nowhere (ultimately this was part of their own undoing as customers were like "WTF is the $400 Saturn?" but at least it was entertaining!) Anyway, enough of my senseless ramblings, here is the good, the bad, and the lame of E3 2012...

 

The Good

• Pikmin 3 looked amazingly good. Miyamoto once again proved he is the king of Nintendo game design.
• Beyond looked very impressive. I am biased though ( I think Ellen Paige is cute.)
• Watch Dog was easily the game of the show. Bravo Ubisoft.
• Jet Grind Radio has made it's glorious return. Also it is on Vita, woohoo.
• Fire Emblem 3DS was confirmed for US release.
• Unchained Blades looks cool and caught me completely offguard.

The Bad

• The Wii U did not impress anyone with it's weird controller or it's bad line up of 3rd party games that already exist on other consoles. 
• The 3DS showcase neglected to mention Fire Emblem (even though Reggie randomly told a Kotaku writer it is getting localized.) They also showed no new games in their 3DS showcase and announced some video crap called Threediots. Yes, it looks as shitty as it sounds.
• Too many Mario games...where the hell is a new Metroid or Star Fox when a guy needs it?
• Sony barely mentioned the Vita. "Good job" supporting your loyal fan base...ugh.
• The Wonderbook and Microsoft glass thingy (can't remember it's name) both looked like a waste of money.
• Sega shows off an English demo of Hatsune Miku for Vita at it's both but says it is only at E3 to gauge player's interested. What?! (email Sega and tell them your two cents)

The Lame

• Sony focused more on the Wonderbook than the Vita. Are 5 year old kids the new target audience? I must admit it was kinda funny when the big woman messed up during the demo.
• Games not shown or talked about at all: The Last Guardian, Dragon's Crown, an English version of Final Fantasy Type 0, Animal Crossing 3DS, Monster Hunter for Vita or 3DS, an English version of Tokyo Jungle and Bioshock Vita. Basically all of the games I wanted to hear were coming along just fine.
• Original Persona 4 voice actors are being replaced in the Vita remake. 
• Scripted performances by Nintendo business men that sorely needed better writing and acting to seem believable were boring and me feel a little dirty.
• No Mega Man...really Capcom?
• No new console announcements. 

Awesome Box Art of the Week: Kyuukyoku Tiger (Twin Cobra)

Bad Box Art of the Week: The Great Giana Sisters

So this is what an acid trip looks like...

Awesome Box Art: Xanadu (MSX)

Selling My Collection, Good Bye Hardcore Days

I have loved video games since I was old enough to hold a controller in my tiny mitts. However, there comes a time for all good things to end, so I must say goodbye to my hardcore gaming obsession. While I will still play some games and buy a few things here and there, my collecting days are done. Why? Well, my fiancee is more important to me than all my games, so I must part ways with this stuff.
If you are one of the three people (?) that read this blog, I am selling my stuff through eBay. However, if you leave me comment on here I can send you a list of stuff I haven't listed yet like the Sega CD-X, my Saturn collection, and my Muramasa Momohime statue.
Here is a link to the eBay stuff:http://www.ebay.com/sch/lastknight01/m.html?item=280877700666&sspagename=STRK%3AMESELX%3AIT&rt=nc&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649&_trksid=p4340.l2562

The list will continue to expand till it is all gone. I don't know if this blog will die, but post will definitely become less frequent. However, if I do land my dream job soon...the updates will at least be super interesting in regards to gaming. Thanks for reading!

Great Box Art from the PS2 Era

The PS2 is one of my favorite systems. For the most part, I liked about 50% of the games I played on it, which is pretty amazing compared to other systems ( ex.Wii would be like 10% likeable games.) The PS2 also had another great trait, plenty of nice box art. While it isn't the Neo Geo, where every box looks great (thank Shinkiro for that), Sony's magical machine had numerous stand out covers. Let's take a look at a few of my favorites...

Awesome Box Art of the Week: Metal Max 3

Bad Box Art of the Week: The Dark Spire

One of the most boring covers ever.

Awesome Box Art of the Week: Beatmania IIDX 13: DistorteD

Bad Box Art of the Week: 0 Story

I wouldn't be sleeping if a giant jellyfish swallowed my head. Oh Japan...

Kickstart Mega Man's Heart

The cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3 was heart breaking and not something I can easily forget as a gamer. I am sure most of you feel this way or else you wouldn't be here, so I had this crazy plan. Why not bring back Mega Man Legends 3 by having a kickstarter? If you love Mega Man, then vote with your money.

Here is an example of a sucessful kickstarter launched to help Double Fine fund a new game:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/66710809/double-fine-adventure

Also Mass Effect 3 fans donated to a children's charity and got Bioware to notice how passionate they were about getting a better resolution to that series:
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/12/retake-mass-effect-3-donations-remained-largely-with-childs-p/

Also remember Operation Rainfall, fans got Xenoblade released in the US even though Nintendo was being quite stubborn at first. Fans can change things!

Basically, a certain level of funding must be reached, and if it is, I am sure it could convince them to finish the project. Video games are a business, plain and simple, so it is only logical that to interest Capcom, money is needed. What do you think fellow Mega Man fans?

Seriously, we can do this...let me know your thoughts below and check out this same post on the Capcom Unity forums.

Awesome Box Art of the Week: Jake Hunter Memories of the Past

Bad Box Art of the Week: Kid Kool

Is that green thing humping his leg?

Sony PS Vita Review

Most gamers realize the Sony PSP was a failure. With rampant piracy and very niche titles appealing only to hardcore gamers, the PSP was doomed to fail from the start. Sony seems to have learned many lessons from the PSP, and taken them for better or worse to their newest portable console, the PS Vita. Let's take a closer look at what they got right.

The PS Vita has a beautiful 5-inch touchscreen that will stun most gamers. The screen looks nearly as good as my iPhone 4s, which is quite an accomplishment for a system priced at less than half of Apple's $600 mobile beast. Titles like Lumines and Wipeout 2048 look amazingly vibrant and detailed, making the Vita feel like a portable Playstation 3 instead of the successor to the PSP. Backwards compatible titles look just as great, with 2-D titles like Metal Slug looking better than even the original console versions!

The controls feel natural and ergonomic. The second joystick really adds to the experience with new controller mapping options, and tighter camera controls. The back of the Vita has a touch pad as well, but honestly I have no idea what this feature is for, as it seems like a useless gimmick. Overall the controls feel better than the PSP, and should make for better playing games compared to the Nintendo 3DS, which is currently in quite the debacle due to the lack of a second analog stick for games like Kid Icarus and Resident Evil Revelations.

The initial game selection is fairly strong. Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is a good fighting game for Street Fighter enthusiast. Lumines fills the puzzle genre nicely, while Wipeout is a very fun racing game. To truly impress your friends consider purchasing Uncharted as it looks almost identical to it's Playstation 3 counterparts and makes you wander how Sony made something so small, so powerful...

The Vita is not perfect. The flaws are small, but glaring in some cases. Let's start with the Vita models available for purchase.

 

 The Vita comes in a 3G version and a Wi-Fi only version. The 3G version is more expensive, starting at $299, but it can be connected to the AT&T mobile service for added internet capabilities on the go. Why didn't Sony go with 4G? It seems like 3G is quickly becoming a relic of the past, so it is very that odd for such a new system the company would go with slow 3G services. The less expensive model, the Wi-fi version, is $249.99. This seems like the better deal and most Americans would rather use their cellphone for Facebook and Twitters updates not a portable console.

Other pricing problems involve the system's memory cards. A 32GB card will cost users a cool $100 bucks, which is insanely overpriced. Most users will be buying Sony's games to fill the card so why are they trying to double dip by charging too much for the card itself? Sony either needs to give away a few free games at that price point, or just reduce it to make up for the lack of PSP backwards compatibility.

Speaking of PSP backwards compatibility, American gamers are really getting the short end of the stick. The Vita has a transfer program in Japan for PSP owners to transfer their UMD games to the Vita for a heavily discounted price. Sadly, this program is not available in the US, so every UMD game for PSP must be bought again at full retail price.To add insult to injury, the PS Vita in the US doesn't even carry half of the PSP library in the online store. So if you miss your PSP games, there is no real reason to part with it yet, as the Vita is not a great resource for transferring older titles.

Also if you want to get Japanese PSP games, don't buy an American Vita. The system only allows for one account per console. The system will only allow one region store per memory card without resetting the data via system restore. If you like to dabble in imports, the Vita is region free, but older PSP titles only work if you set your region to Japan and hold a Japanese PSN account.

That seems like plenty of negatives but the system is still worth a look. The Vita is practically a portable Playstation 3 and will eventually have an impressive library of games like Gravity Daze and Street Fighter X Tekken. While the price is a bit steep, if you are ready for the next level of portables, it is available now. However, if you are a casual gamer that is fine with older style graphics and simple controls, hold off for a price drop, which is bound to happen at some point later this year.

 

Awesome Box Art of the Week: Ico