Oh no...I haven't forgotten about you.

I'm just starting to filter the content that spills into here..less business and more personal, as we started.. just a bit of time. Great things are being written. :D






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This actually happened.

Poor Sonic. It wouldn't be so tragic (or hilarious) if it weren't so TRUE..

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Kevin Butler is..

Awesome. No really. Far from the inexplicable mess that was Sony's ad campaign for the past three years, this guy comes out of nowhere, is genuine, hilarious, and his tongue is exactly where it needs to be when you're promoting a company who was practically flailing to gain relevance with it's userbase for quite some time; in-cheek.

Even watching him promote what is essentially a PS3 Wiimote is a thing of beauty. I laughed, I cried, most importantly, I kinda want one now.

Keep this guy around, seriously.

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Someone's got to clean up the mess.

/hiatus end.


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Definition of Awesome - I

Awesome is getting a Big Daddy stuck on a desk, and having him try to charge at you for so long that the particle effects from all the dust he's kicked up makes the framerate drop to ungodly levels.

Killing him in his frenzy and having the game return to normal is the icing on the cake.

While bending a game's world to your will is one of the most fun things a gamer can accomplish, sometimes the undesired result is the most memorable. I simply wanted to bottleneck the guy in a tight space so I could wear him down. Not cause a graphical meltdown.

Bonus, eh?...


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Status update...

I don't have a computer anymore. I won't until September 7th.

I'm actually typing this from my PS3. Looks like the Blu-Ray/Mixed Media player that also plays games has another useful function, eh?

Does this mean a lack of posting from yours truly though? Not really. I'll be posting here and on Chocolate Lemon to the best of my ability. I've also managed to snap up applications for my phone that handle just about every blogging client I use, so aside from some small transition issues related to just HOW I manage my posts, I shouldn't be too off track.

I also missed half of my self-imposed quota for July, but that's water under the bridge by now.

What's upcoming? I haven't done any of my industry related thoughts in a while, so that's on the block...Upcoming games are of course getting some degree of focus (I'm playing the fantastic Batman: Arkham Asylum game, expect a writeup) as well as more news, even though, when put to scale, it's a relatively tame fall season as far as gaming goes. Many of the hits have been pushed back or are simply not releasing until 2010 (Bioshock 2, Splinter Cell, God of War 3, No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle, Super Mario Galaxy 2), but there is some saving grace in the form of some great niche and mainstreamers pulling out their guns. They're guns we'll be able to ENJOY because there ISN'T a avalanche of AAA titles clogging our collective interest and spreading us thin.

I'd also like to try my hand at some videos as well, but I'll save that for when I've got some decent hardware in tow. It's very hard to remember I'm essentially a blogging MacGuyver (iPhone, PS3, USB Keyboard combo, mooching off friends' PCs) at times.

There's also a new category, it's called IRL, for when I have to make a post like this regarding LIFE.

New post in a day or so!

-E.P.

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Quick Thought - Fighters

It seems like 2009 is the year the of the fighting game. Really, for a genre that I thought was on the steady decline, it seems that all of the biggest names of the genre are making some sort of comeback. Just for kicks, here's how it's going down in '09:

-First Capcom stuns us all with Street Fighter 4. It's also no secret that ultra rare (and incredibly broken) fighter Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is going to be downloadable around the end of July. Then mid summer, they drop a ball on us confirming the impossible--Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is coming to the states (only on the Wii), possibly by the end of this year.

-Namco finally decides to make Tekken 6 a definite fall release (on three platforms!) with the added bonus of also releasing Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny(or Soulcalibur IV: Kratos edition) for the PSP.

-Not about to be outdone, SNK decides to revitalize and reinvent King of Fighters with the upcoming KOF XII, bring us back in time with an XBLA version of Garou: Mark of the Wolves, and take us even FURTHER back with KOF 98': Ultimate Match.

-Sensing something amiss (and looking to steal a bit of thunder from SNK, methinks), Arc System Works realizes after the English release of Guilty Gear X2 Accent Core Plus it can't afford to keep milking Guilty Gear X2 like Street Fighter 2,(aside from sega locking them out of creative control of the GG franchise) and decides to take THEIR universe forward with Blazblue: Calamity Trigger.

So yeah. It's a good time to invest in an arcade stick, if you dig this kind of thing.

Or at least a fight pad. I know I have.

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Filler - One-offs.

-Condemned 2 is an atmospheric mindfuck. Between this and the F.E.A.R. series, I can see that Monolith truly loves tugging at people's nerves through first person.

-LittleBigPlanet is a fantastical, wonderful place and I can't maintain anger while it's running in my PS3. I am under the impression that it's impossible.



-Impossible.

-My inFamous review has been in draft for the past 6 days, and is 80% complete. I'm still wondering if I should put it up.

-X-Blades reminds me of that token generic game you see playing on televisions during a low budget movie. I REALLY wish I had a screenshot of the loading screen that popped up when I started the demo, telling me "The best way to avoid fireballs is to jump over them."

-Rock Band 2 is still the best looking rhythm action game I've ever seen. The fact that the animations remain dynamic and accurate even for the downloadable music blows me away.

-Everyone in a tiff about some random from EA talking about how he feels the 360 is "maxed out" needs to remember WHERE the quote is coming from. He's from EA. EA. When did they become the de facto source for hardware analysis?

-Also, Poor Kojima. I've already spoken to a few people about this...funny to see it in a mainstream blog post.

I'll be back in a day or two..

(end)


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Filler - What the hell, Sucker Punch?...

Thanks guys. Someone REALLY dropped the ball on this one.

Reign of evil starts now with conviction. Review before weekend's over.

Next up? Sony and Nintendo's keynotes.

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Filler - The REAL DJ Hero.

The amount of manual dexterity required to pull this off is honestly lost to me. I've been playing this on and off for some years now.



Another after the jump..



If I can get this working smoothly...ah..the things you'll see..
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Quick Thoughts - Identity Crisis

Sucker Punch, Volition, Radical.

All three of you developers want me to run around in an open world and blow..



shit...



...up.



But I can't tell the difference between the three of you. I mean, you all have slight variations in your template, but I'm beginning to think open world destruction is this year's big thing.

It's not necessarily a bad thing, given that many of our galaxies, our gaming careers have revolved around some sort of destruction or conquering spirits, but I'm sincerely hoping too much isn't TOO much.

Having played at least 8 hours (and then some) of inFamous though...I am almost too impressed. Sucker Punch has really created something amazing, though I'll touch on it as soon as I reach the end.

P.S. - After finishing the first mission, the game told me, based on my performance, they were switching me to HARD (yes in all capitals) difficulty. I haven't looked back since. Great game.
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