Titan Games Kalamazoo

Its E3, and I could not be more excited!! I really wish I could be there, but I am not. I am watching the press conferences from the comphert of my desk..or home depending on the time.

The Nintendo press conference kicks off with The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (for the Wii). Its going to make full use of the wii-mote, making the player put on there Link hat, and swing there mighty sword! Iv never really been a fan of this type of gameplay, so lets hold out hope for other control options. The game itself encountered a bit of technically difficulty, and the controls seems a bit buggy. We were reassured that this will be fixed by its release..but seeing it as Nintendo’s starting point scared me a bit for the rest of the confrence..

Mario Sports Mix (for the Wii). Well, at least its not another Mario Golf, right? I’m actually looking forward to this title. Instead of one sport, its a collection. On display at E3 was volleyball, hockey and basketball. I love Mario sports games, even though Im nonathletic. Its looking like something fun you can get for Christmas and play with your cousins, or prehaps another game that you can play with your girlfriend. Oh and Wii Party is coming too…its a “Wii Games” title so you know what its going to be.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn (for the DS). Golden Sun games were originally for the Gameboy Advanced. There your normal JRPG fair, and everything you would expect to find in one..and its awesome. The story was solid, and theres a reason they still sell for 17 bucks. The graphics for the upcoming DS Golden Sun are reminiscent of the Square-Enix titles for the DS. This is not a negative comment, I like how those look. Not too much information as given, but if its anything like the previous Golden Suns, Im sure it will be amazing!

Goldeneye 007 (for the Wii). Its a remake of the N64 classic shooter. Im sure everyone is excited by this news, but I can’t help but point out a few flaws. For one thing, Daniel Craig is 007. I know a lot of you are like “who is that?” or “who cares?”, but if your anything like my male friends, you are mad. The grahics are a bit lack-luster for a Wii title. When you put it up aginst recent titles such as Super Mario Galaxy 2, you can’t help but notice the diffrence.

Kirby: Epic Yarn (for the Wii). Its epic. It has to be. Its in the title. Kirby has always been a favorite, and as it was pointed out, has not had a real game on a home console in a long time. There is only word that went through my mind besides “awesome” during the demonstartion..which was “Awwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!” This is Kirby even more adorable then you have ever seen him before! I know a lot manly gamers are like “oh no!” but the gameplay looks solid and fun. Its hard not to love Kirby, and I dare any of you to come in and tell me with a strait face that you don’t love the little pink ball.

Dragon Quest IX (for the DS): Its Dragon Quest. If you are into this series your going to buy it. Its got 120 mini quests, 300 monsters, 900 items, and randomly generated maps. Oh and it has muliti-player. Also, like TWEWY (The World’s Ends with You) it will seek out other people playing the game near by, and reward you for that. It will be taking your life in 25 days.

Metroid the other M (for the Wii): Our lovely lady Samus returns to us, and wow, the game looks great. A lot of people talk about how the Wii’s graphics are “not up to par” with the PS3 or the XBOX 360, but this will make you eat those words. It will be interesting to see how the controls for this feels, and if we will again have the option to use the classic controller (my controller of choice).

Oh yea and a new Donkey Kong platformer. Sweet!

Rising from the fog, in a glorious entrance was the new Nintendo 3DS. Oh dear lord, yes. Anyone who was in the shop yesterday knows I am excited about this (mostly because I ran out of my office celebrating). Its going to be a glorious machine. Heres the specs:
DIMENSIONS (when closed)

5.3 inches x 2.9 inches x 0.8 inches

WEIGHT

8 ounces

TOP SCREEN

3.52 inch widescreen display / 800×240 resolution (400 pixels for each eye during 3D gameplay)

BOTTOM SCREEN

3.02 inch touch-screen display / 320×240 resolution

CAMERAS

Three cameras, two on outer casing, one above top screen / 640×480 resolution (0.3 megapixel)

STORAGE MEDIUM

Cartridge slot for both 3DS and DS cards (3DS cards have a 2GB capacity “at launch”, suggesting larger sizes to come) / SD memory card slot

WIRELESS

2.4ghz / 802.11 wi-fi / Can communicate with other consoles or internet when in sleep mode / wireless can be switched off to preserve battery life

CONTROLS / INPUT

Touch-screen / D-pad / 360-degree “Slide Pad” (the analog stick) / motion sensor / gyro sensor / 3D “depth slider” can reduce (or even disable) 3D effects in games

STYLUS

4-inch stylus (when full extended)

AUDIO

Stereo speakers (includes stereo headphone out jack)

BATTERY

Lithium ion battery (lifespan details TBA)

PARENTAL CONTROLS

The 3DS will include parental controls

Its release colors will be blue, red and black. No pink.

And whats coming for the new system? Kid Icarus: Uprising!. Im really glad they took the Super Smash Brothers Brawl Pit instead of coming up with some muscular version.

If you would like to see the conference for yourself, here is a link http://e3.nintendo.com/e3-presentation/index.html

Tomorrow is our Warhammer Gods of Chaos Tournament at Titan Games. We are so excited! Iv been watching our Warhammer crowd come in and play each other for a year now, and now I get to see them play hard ball! I wish the best of luck to all our participants. Ill be updating the bracket on our website after each game, so those at home can keep an eye on who’s winning.

Click the image below for a bigger image of the bracket.

Last weekend was Marmalade Dog and of course we were in attendance. While I’m sure my presence was missed here in the shop, I ended up having a lot of fun at the convention.

It was a lot more of a friendly feeling then I get at other cons. I have been attending the larger ones, such as GenCon and Origins. They are wonderful conventions, and more fun then I should be allowed to have, but I talk to at least 1000 different people in one day. At Marmalade Dog, its a lot of the people I already knew, and those I met felt like old friends.

It was also nice to be able to over hear some of the games while working. Its not that I was eavesdropping mind you, but we gamers get excited and loud! I could tell everyone not only was having a good time, but was very comfortable with one another. I love it!

We will be back next year! Thank for a fun time!!

While we were having our fun, across the land there was a gathering known as PAX. This is a HUGE gaming convention created by the people who brought us the online comic Penny Arcade, and the charity Child’s Play. You may remember us talking about the charity back in December, as friends of ours held an event to raise money.
Pax not only focuses on video games but also board games. Its a wonderful thing for my kind. Im sorry I missed it, but a couple of my friends made it out there. With that being said, Ill congradulate Dan on winning Omegathon!!

I know the anniversary was actually 5 days ago, but I feel the need to celebrate anyway. The PS2 has still not died, and is still going strong. There are still sales of it, and new games published for it, even as we have reached its 10th year bringing up joy. The PS2 is the best-selling console to date, having sold over 140 million units sold as of September 30, 2009. Several new games are scheduled to be released in 2010, thus continuing the sixth generation

I thought I would take a walk with everyone down memory lane, to the games we played, we loved, and currently still play. Here are some of my picks for the best games to grace the PS2. I would also love to hear yours as well. My email will be at the end of the post, where you can tell me your games, or how much you liked/hated this list.

Disgea: Hour of Darkness: Disgea is a sprite RPG that in all honesty looks like something that belonged on the PS1. While its graphics were not that striking, its replay value makes it stand out. I have clocked over 400 hours into this game, and that is not impressive at all compared to what some people have. It is a game you really do come back to over and over again. You can blast through the story in about 30 hours, but that takes your party to about what? Level 60? The end of the story is really not the end of the game by a long shot. You can bring all your characters to level 9999. The story line really grabs you, and with all NIS games, it has a great sense of humor. If you haven’t played this title, I really recommend picking it up (and we even have one copy here in the store!)

We Love Katamari: Oh we do. We love it. This is the sequel to the original Katamari Damacy, a game where you, the Prince of the Cosmos, roll things into a ball to replace all the stars in sky. That’s pretty much what you are doing in We Love Katamari, rolling anything and everything…into balls. It has a wonderful soundtrack, that’s upbeat and clearly its own. I hate to admit it, but there’s something satisfying about rolling people into my giant ball, then watching it get launched into space.

Ōkami: It was art, a work of art, only a piece of art you could actually afford it. Ōkami is beautiful cel-shaded adventure that looks like a sumi-e painting (a form of Japanese brush painting done with ink and water). The gameplay wraps you into a world of Gods, where the pen really is mightier than the sword. I would recommend this game to anyone who likes Legend of Zelda games, since it has the feeling of an action-RPG; with a plethora of side quests.

God of War: A pale, muscular guy, who has red tattoos, is wronged by the Greek Gods. To get his revenge he shoves sharp, pointy things into everything around him; all the while swinging his swords around mercilessly, decimating his foes. To sum up: awesome. This game is really quite close to perfect in many peoples eyes. Its visuals really showed off what the PS2 was capable of, its controls were tight, the action intense, and you easily lost yourself in the story. God of War is one of those games you can still go back and enjoy, even if its sequels have being released in the 7th generation of gaming.

Final Fantasy 10: Final Fantasy was HUGE on the PS1. Final Fantasy 7 has created more buzz then most any other game in history. It should have been no surprise that one of the first titles we got on the PS2 was the next level, Final Fantasy 10. While now we might not exactly marvel at its graphics; when it was first released it really smacked you in the face and said “Look how epic and pretty I am!!”. The story was good, but did suffer from some flaws. All and all it did manage to keep you wondering. Even the voice acting was good.

Shadow of the Colossus: This game only has 16 enemies in its entire game. I’m going to let you think about that for a moment. 16. Not 16 you fight over and over again, just 16 period. But, they are really, really, really, really gigantic creatures. Shadow of the Colossus is like your imagination running away while you listen to your grandmother read you a fairy tale. The creatures and characters look like something…I just can’t describe. It’s a moving game, which leaves a lot open to interpretation.

Ace Combat 5 ~The Unsung War~: While most aircraft combat games suffer from a lackluster story, Ace Combat 5 leaves them sitting on the ground. Its mixture of compelling storyline, good graphics, and great control made it for one superb game. You have a ton of aircraft to choose from, my personal favorite is the F-22/A Raptor. The voice acting was superb. It has a lot of familiar voice in it to people who watch anime (It has Crispin Freeman!).

Its been 10 years since the epic date of 9-9-99 when the Sega Dreamcast bounced its way onto the market. It was a shining achievement in gaming technology. It was the first of “next-gen” console, beating the PS2 by over a year. It was also the first system to come out of the box internet-ready. So, then why did it die in under two years?

Sega was always an innovator. If you stop and compare the Gameboy with the Game Gear its hard to believe they were in the same generation. The Gameboy was released in 1989 and and the Game Gear came out just one year later. In just that short year gaming went from this:

To this beautiful thing:

The Game Gear is an impressive piece of work, but it had its flaws. For one, it was heavy. I was only 5 when it came out and 6 when my mother placed it in my hands, and the weight made it a little hard to play. Another huge problem was its battery life. The monster took 6 AA batteries and ate them up in 5 hours. That really sucks. It did have an adapter, but that’s not what you want in portable game systems. Sega did later release a rechargeable pack that gave it slightly more playtime, but this was sold separately and brought even more weight to the already hefty console. The Game boy only took 4 AA batteries and lasted 10-14 hours.
The Game Gear also lost out in price. It was around $150 at its release, which is much more then the $89.99 cost of the Gameboy.
The Sega Nomad followed after in 1995. It was also bulky, expensive and ate batteries, and slipped into only the true Sega-fan’s hearts soon after.
Sega did a lot of things first. It was actually the first one to have a system that would allow owners to go “online” where users could download games for a small monthly fee. So why has the empire fallen?

One could argue that Sega was just ahead of its time. Its systems were more advanced, but it came with an advanced price. The 5th generation consoles saw heavy price tags, but none weighed like Sega Saturn’s. The N64 was priced to move at $199.99 and the Playstation was at $299.99 but the Saturn’s was $399.99. This is the 5th generation, in the middle of the 90’s. It was hard to get a parent to shell out $400 when they could get another system for just half that price.

The Dreamcast (under the code names like Katana and Black Belt) was first heard of at E3 2008, then released not soon after in Japan. For a while it was a power house. It had amazing new titles, with the best 3D seen. Sonic Adventure was breath taking for its time, and it breathed some new life into a series that was fading fast. This was the golden days in the sun for Sega’s ill fated system. Impressive titles which many gamers still swear by today were released. Shenmue was out of this world when it first came out. Its high attention to detail draws you in and doesn’t let go. Even Square Enix praised the system (yet they stayed clear of it when it came to releasing games). It did get some impressive RPGs though, such as Skies of Arcadia and this gamers favorite Grandia 2. Yes, before you say it, there was holes in the story. It needed some more work, but when we look at the battle system, and magic system..its fantastic. I actually did enjoy the story quite a bit, and was able to look past some of its flaws. That and I though it was pretty.

Then came the cancellations…

Major companies soon started stalling or canceling upcoming games for the system. Konami canned both Castlevaina: Resurrection and The Mummy. Collin McRea Rally, a much awaited squeal was also canceled so that Codemasters could concentrate on PS2 titles.
The Playstation 2 exploded onto the scene selling out over much of Japan and later, America and other countries. It had a powerhouse of titles both from Sony and from 3rd party developers. The Xbox also showed up out of the shadows to land another blow.
You notice I didn’t mention the Gamecube in that…hm

It died here in America in 2002, but it kept on going in Japan untill 2006. Even today people all over the world still enjoy it, and home brews have opened a whole new chapter into the consoles life. I played mine last night, some Soul Caliber and a couple Japanese titles I own. I still love it…and so do many of you.

I love GenCon. The sights, the new people, the excitement! This year did not disappoint me either. Though most the day I was in the booth, I did get a nice taste of the con. I can’t help but notice while I read Marcus’ view on it, that we have very different takes on the who experience (which is not surprising seeing that I am a 23 year college student and he a …slightly older business owner). You can read his GenCon report here.

First Id like to thank the people at the Indy Hostel. They did a wonderful job of making me feel welcome. I had my reserves about staying in a hostel, but I found it a wonderful experience. Its a nice homey feel, and the owners are very friendly.

There was a tidbit of information about the upcoming film 9. 9 is based off a 2005 short film about a sentient rag doll living in the ruins of a decaying world. The full length feature is being produced by Tim Butron and Timur Bekmambetov and is set to hit our theaters on 9.9.2009 (shocker, I know). From all the footage Iv seen, I think this is going to be a good one!

Not a lot was there for video games. We were right across from Atari who was showing off their new game Champions online, due out in September. It looks at lot like City of Heroes. ALOT like it. I honestly thought that’s what I was watching at first. I know that sounds a bit harsh, but I feel like this is just another MMORPG that we have seen before.

I also took note that there was a lot more anime and manga related things this year. Now, I am a huge anime nerd. I love anime. I love watching it. I have a massive collection that would make even the most hard core Otaku fall to his/her knees and weep. I can’t help but stop and ask myself though, is GenCon really the place for that? Do I really want to mix my Dungeons and Dragons with my Gurren Lagann? Do I need Settlers of Catan and an L plush in the same shopping bag?

Lets see what next year brings!