We're Still Having Fun

(Well, Aerith isn't.)

According to Kotaku's This Day in Gaming feature (and they've never steered me wrong before), today is the ten-year anniversary of the Japanese release of Final Fantasy VII.

In honor of the day, I'd like to share an anecdote about Final Fantasy VII.

My good friend Ryan is a big fan of this game. Huge. He's the one who first turned me on to it. We were in high school at the time, and one day he asked me: "Hey, Cat, do you have a PlayStation at your house?" We did have a PlayStation, Killa's, so I told him I did. He eagerly pressed the three-disc set into my hands. "Take this home and play it," he said. "Seriously. Just play it until it's over. This is the best game there's ever been."

He was right. At the time, there was just nothing like it. It was the first Japanese RPG to make it big in the United States. The graphics were revolutionary for the time. The CGI cutscenes were a whole new thing. And that part with Aerith was completely mind blowing. There have been better-looking games since, and maybe even games with tighter, better stories (I can never choose between VII and X), but I don't believe that any game since---except, perhaps, for LoZ: The Ocarina of Time---has had such a major, paradigm-shifting influence on gaming and the video game industry. Final Fantasy VII was for the 1990s what Super Mario Bros. was for the 1980s and PacMan was for the 1970s---and that is no small thing.

As for my friend Ryan, FFVII has ruined him for all other games. Whenever I talk to him about a new game, he asks me to compare it to Final Fantasy VII. All new games are judged, not on how they stack up to Final Fantasy VII, but on how much they are exactly like Final Fantasy VII. For example: I called Ryan to tell him that FFXII was out and I had gotten a copy of it. He said to me, "Cool. Is it like Final Fantasy VII?" I replied, "Well, it's a Final Fantasy game; it's in the same genre. What do you mean?" There was a pause. Finally, he asked: "Does it have materia?" I had to admit that, no, it doesn't have materia.

"Have fun with that," he said. "I think I'll just play Final Fantasy VII again."

{Found it!} Wiki Vandalism

See if you can spot the vandalism in this screen capture, taken yesterday afternoon.

No Internet Explorer jokes, please! X-Box jokes only!

Classic Dialogue, Sugah

Rogue's ending from X-Men Vs. Street Fighter.

After rebuffing M. Bison's offer to become "normal", Rogue has a heartfelt discussion with Chun Li on a picturesque hillside.

Killer Ops

The real challenge would be to review Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops on its own, independent of its place in the franchise, or its status among PSP offerings. If one could only review it as its own game, free of the labels and expectations and allowances.

That would be tough indeed. But the world of game reviews is not a vacuum. Too bad.

In terms of the larger Metal Gear saga, MPO is an important link in the chain, and it wields a fair amount of clout being a canon entry in the series. This is one of those games that "forced" series fans to buy a PSP, though once it is acquired a Gearaphile can enjoy Ac!d, Ac!d², and the Digital Graphic Novel as well. Speaking of the DGN...

The hand drawn cutscenes by Ashley Wood that tell the dramatic moments of MPO are excellent, and more than supplement enough for the in-engine cutscenes of previous games. Since doing these instances in engine would have been the most glaring example of the less detailed graphical presentation, I feel they create a very cohesive game experience.

In all honesty, though, the graphics aren't shabby. It is basically the exact same engine as Ac!d², although the character models are a little more detailed overall. In my personal library of titles for Sony's portable, Ops is second in the visual department only to Tekken:DR.

We go now from good to superb. The audio in this game is par excellence. The very cool 70s superspy music blended with the expected MGS full orchestration is, for lack of a better word, crucial. The voice acting, the sound effects, the ambience: all perfect. They nailed every aspect of aural pleasure.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Gameplay. Here's the gist: MGS3's camo is out, a new and very useful sound indicator is in its place. The traditional linear structure is replaced by a mission based one, more suitable for portable Ops. Solo sneaking missions now allow you to take a quartet of characters into each mission, sneaking one at a time, and switching off by hiding in cardboard boxes at set hiding places scattered throughout the level.

Who else goes in your squad? Well, just about any soldier you see can be recruited. Just knock 'em out and drag 'em back to the truck. And each soldier has their own appearance, stats, and special traits. Most of the bosses can be recruited if one meets special requirements, for example the good old stamina kill (as opposed to a lethal "health" kill). These new comrades can be used to sneak, gather intel, develop technical supplies, or see to the health and well-being of your forces.

They can also be taken online, in a mode not unlike MGO from MGS3:Subsistence. Individual and team variations of deathmatch and capture the kerotan provide for unlimited replayability, and the option of Real Combat (as opposed to virtual reality), wherein you can capture your opponent's soldiers, creates an incentive to constantly build up your characters and search for better ones.Oh, and so you know, I had no problem putting together an exciting match with five other eager players at 5 AM EST. So yeah, there's alot of activity online.

What more could anyone possibly want?!

Well, starting with online, the six player limit chafes some, but sits fine with me. More maps, though, like the ones to be available for the Euro release, would be nice. Also there is a big controversy about hacked characters online that usually have otherwise inaccessible uniforms, S ranks in all weapons, and the health to withstand two headshots at point blank range. With proper communication, though, you can find opponents that share like-minded views of sportsmanship and avoid t3h hax0rz.

Next off, there are two really outstandingly bad segments in the game. One is a brief, very uncharacteristic platforming element in the Silo Complex level. I get the feeling Hideo Kojima backhanded someone when he played through that portion. It is especially frustrating on Extreme difficulty due to the key placement. This isn't Mario, okay?

Secondly, in the Ravine level, en route to the Power Substation, you come to a boulder in your path that prompts a codec conversation, telling you to find another route. I suppose one could double back around the other side of the canyon, or perhaps bring explosives to destroy the blockage. I wouldn't know, however, because I just had Snake hang off the edge of the path and climb his way around the large rock. This is Metal Gear Solid, okay? Electrified floors that need to be disabled with remote controlled missiles, I expect that. I also expect to use cigar smoke to identify infrared security systems. But, climbing around a rock? What the fuck, Konami? What is that?

Oh yeah, back on the plus side, the story is awesome. Great characters, intrigue, excitement, betrayal. You know, top-notch. It helps a lot to have played Snake Eater, but I wouldn't say it's a dealbreaker if you haven't.

In summation, this is the best PSP game I have played. Yeah, that's right. The best. Cardboard boxes and dirty magazines for life.

Circadian Circumvention

Before I delve into the subject at hand, I'm going to talk a little bit about Nintendo's Game Boy Advance and my experience with the device. I owned a few GBA games before I owned a GBA. Paradoxical, I know. I owned the Game Boy Player Gamecube add-on, however. This was, of course, when my Cube was still functional. I did not purchase a GBA until one irresistible game came along; a game that would cement Keif, Legoman and myself as the J-Team.

That game was Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. I can not say enough good things about that experience, and I hesitate to mention it around Keif, as she is then likely to renounce any gaming agenda that had been previously decided on (Ultimate Alliance, Smooth Moves, etc.) and demand that we again play through FF:CC. Then the point is brought up that her betrothed, Legoman, traded in his GBA when he got his DS, because, Hey, why would anyone need a GBA if they have a DS? ... ... Yeah, exactly. The link cable issue.

Anyways, though we did get massive use of the GBAs with that game, I did expand and play other games on the system. Most notably, the entire Mega Man Zero series, of which I am very fond. I am disappointed, though not surprised, that its spiritual successor Mega Man ZX is for the DS. I also enjoyed Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and the NES Classics rerelease of The Legend of Zelda. However since MMZ4, my GBA has gathered substantial dust.

The other day, I met up with this gaming cohort known as Keif when she was getting off work, to forcibly remind her to pick up the copy of Wario Ware: Smooth Moves she had pre-ordered. While in Ye Olde Video Game Shoppe, I once again browsed through the used GBA selection. One never knows when a quality cartridge might surface through the second hand trade. Well, one particular gem that I had looked for before had suddenly found its way to the locked display case: Boktai. Yes, that's right, The Sun is in My Hands now.

Now let me make the point, if Hideo Kojima was involved in the developement of carcinogenic bubble gum, I would buy it. The Metal Gear series has earned him quite a bit of loyalty, so I am at all times eager to indulge in such other offerings as Snatcher, Policenauts, and Zone of the Enders. Boktai fits neatly into this category, and for a scant $6.99, I pounced on the chance like a ninja.

As usual, there was a dilemma. As Catarina has alluded to before, my occupation and general disposition often result in an abnormal diurnal cycle. For the past few days, I have been active mainly at night.

Boktai's solar cell requires daylight. Therefore, since I bought this game a few days ago, I have been unable to defeat the first boss, as some reasonable amount of light is needed to purify this Immortal. When I awoke late this afternoon, the little bit of overcast illumination was still insufficient. Resigned, I watched Jeopardy and had my morning coffee.

Luckily, the intellectual stimulation of the classic thinking man's answer-and-question game got the lobes humming. The solar cell needs sunlight, not artificial light. The difference being UV rays. Now where can I get ultraviolet light at night? Hmm... Why, I still have a massive blacklight in my living quarters, don't I? A fortunate remnant of my raver days. Minutes later, the first boss was purified and I had my method of playing Boktai whenever I please. Not unlike Nimrod, the biblical hunter before God, I am the great gamer before convention, thwarting the laws of time and photodynamics. I am, predictably, quite pleased with myself.

Gaming Hiro

Please forgive the source, but please do check out this interview with Masi Oka, actor, special effects whiz, and proud PSP and PS3 owner.

PS1 + PS2 Equals. . . ?

While we were at Best Buy last night picking up WarioWare: Smooth Moves for our Wii---which we haven't yet played, but which, I understand, does not support a 16:9 aspect ratio, much to my dismay---we poked through the Sony section as well. No PS3s, naturally.

We were about to leave with Wario in hand when I spotted a sales rep wandering by. We hailed her and asked if any PS3s were in stock, and she told me they had some---they were just stored in the manager's office for safekeeping. She hustled us up to the register and called a manager to bring us a PS3 from the office. Meantime, hubby ran back to the game section to grab a second Sixaxis and the sales associate eyed my copy of WarioWare as if wondering whether or not he should break it to me that I wouldn't be able to play it on my shiny new PS3.

Once we had all converged on the register---me with WarioWare, hubby with the spare Sixaxis, and the store manager with our PS3---a quick scan of the box revealed that there was no HDMI cable in the box. Now, I wasn't really expecting it to come with an HDMI cable. But I hadn't heard any Internet tales of people complaining about no HDMI included, nor had I heard about anyone buying an HDMI cable for it, but there you are. So off runs hubby to grab an HDMI cable, leaving me with the sales associate and the store manager.

"Hmm," said the manager. "There's an available two-year warranty on this item."

"No thanks," I said. I don't need a Best Buy warranty for a PS3 that is guaranteed by Sony. On principle, I never buy a store warranty for an item that is freely guaranteed by its manufacturer.

"I would highly recommend it for this item," she continued, taking an ominous tone. "You know---because it has the blue ray." What is that even supposed to mean? I need a warranty on my PS3 because it has the blue ray? I think she may have been trying to instill an image of the PS3 malfunctioning, the awesome power of the blue ray technology breaking loose from its shiny plastic holding cell and running amok, destroying all in its path. . . . Noticing my rising ire, the sales associate made a quick break for it.

"Let me go get you a blue bag," said the sales associate. "It's not see-through like the yellow bag, so you'll have a better chance of making it back to your car without getting robbed."

Roll with the Punches

Just thought I'd share a brief vid I ran across on YouTube.
X-Men's Psylocke, Biohazard's Jill Valentine, and Street Fighter's Gouki unleash an unmerciless beating upon Mega Man's better half.

Dying for a Wii

Just read an interesting report out of Sacramento on MSNBC. Unfortunately a wife and mother of three competed in radio station KNDN's contest called "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" which entailed massive water consumption followed by competitive bladder control, all for the hottest console around, the Nintendo Wii.

Tragically, the contestant, Jennifer Strange, 28, died after the event from what a coroner described as "water intoxication." Man, the things people will do for a Wii... I told everybody to preorder. But as usual, no one listened to me. As a sidenote, the contest's winner, pictured at right, had no comment.

RE: Slamdance Festival

I've been following this story for a while now, but when it finally popped up on MSNBC on Friday I was a little surprised. I knew this was a big issue in the gaming community, but I didn't think it would get attention from non-gamers.

In a nutshell: Super Columbine Massacre Role Playing Game! (SCMRPG!) has been pulled from Slamdance by festival president Peter Baxter. Subsequently, several finalists, including FlOw and Braid, have withdrawn from the competition in protest, and sponsor USC has withdrawn its support for the festival as well.

I could link to 1Up, Kotaku, Joystiq, and GamaSutra---all of which are covering this story---ad nauseum, but I'm sure we've all seen those articles already. Here, instead, is a selection of news articles from primarily non-gaming news sources, including the MSNBC item, to sample the coverage this is getting outside of the gaming demographic.

Game On, the Newsweek/MSNBC article.

Columbine Game's Ouster Brings Response, from the Rocky Mountain News. Caveat lector: This appears to have been written by Crescente from Kotaku.

Slamdance Sponsor Pulls out over Game, from the Salt Lake Tribune.

Super Columbine Massacre Removed from Indie Game Finalists List, from the Guardian Unlimited---might be a gaming blog, but looks like it's affiliated with a mainstream news source. Cheerio, toodle pip---coverage from the other side of the pond, guv'ner.

Slamdance Is Slammed over Game, from the Desert Morning News.

Festival Pulls "Columbine" Video Game, from the Denver Post.

Unsurprisingly, the Denver Post seems to be the most antagonistic, opening the article with a citation of Peter Baxter's "sense of moral obligation," reminding readers that SCMRPG! made PC World's list of the worst games of all time, and trimming SCMRPG! creator Danny Ledonne's comments on the controversy down to the most inane snippet. By and large, though, I was pleasantly surprised to see that all of the articles (including the Denver Post) were professionally neutral on this touchy subject.

As I was compiling these links (on Friday), a non-gaming colleague of mine came by and, seeing the headlines emblazoned on my computer screen, commented that she'd been following the story as well and offered her own insights on the controversy.

MPO review soon! Patience, grasshoppers.

Disgaeappointment

Nobody could have been more excited than my husband and me when Disgaea II: Cursed Memories was announced for August of 2006. We preordered it, cleared our gaming calendar to make room for it, and dove right into it when it arrived. We haven't been playing it nonstop due to work, holidays, more work, and other games, but we've been playing at least a few times a week for the past several months, and we've finally beaten it. At least, inasmuch as a game of this type can be beaten. That is to say, we defeated the primary end boss and saw one ending to the game. It was a major let-down.

I realized straight off when we started playing that the plot wasn't going to be as engaging as that of the original. I soon came to realize that the characters weren't as deep as in the previous game, either. And the ending---at least the basic that we saw---was completely devoid of emotional impact and didn't bring any kind of closure to the game. We then sat through about ten minutes of credits, only to be treated to a little more "ending," which actually created more loose ends than it tied off.

There's still alot to love about this game. The main thing, I should stress, is the gameplay. One doesn't play a Disgaea game for the story, after all. All of the gameplay elements that we loved from Disgaea were present. The turn based, grid based battle, the two-dimensional character sprites, and the endless, unique Item World dungeons. The same basic leveling-up system for characters, skills, and items is still in place. And back for an encore is the colorful stable of completely customizable character classes making up our unique batallion of sprites including my personal faves Berrymelon, Emeril BAM!!!, Paris Hilton, and Optimus Badass.

I haven't really been able to decide how I feel about the changes to the gameplay. For example, the amount of leveling required to unlock the later iterations of the character classes has increased geometrically in this game. Where in DG1 you could level your Male Brawler to level 100 in order to unlock all of his later forms including his final form, the Eternal Fist, in DG2 you must level your Fighter to level 10 to unlock the Warrior; then you must reincarnate as a Warrior or start a new Warrior and level him to level 20 to unlock the Destroyer; and so on. This could be either a pro or a con, depending on how much time you want to devote to making the most powerful characters. The Majin class isn't even available on the first playthrough, which may be for the best since, once again, the Majin makes all other character types worthless.

Then again, to say that one has beaten Disgaea II is akin to saying that one has beaten Tetris. There's always more to do. And now that we have the pitiful plotline out of the way, maybe we'll eventually get around to playing through the hundreds of hours of additional/hidden content.

Gamespotting

Not to be confused with trainspotting, or wainscotting.

Killa, knowing that I have been on the prowl for some rare older titles, gave me a call on his cell from the local EBStop late last week to get my shopping list. It turned out they didn't have any of the titles in question (surprise), so I asked him to check and see if they had a PlayStation in stock.

"I don't think they carry PS1 games anymore," said Killa.
"No. . . . see if they have a PlayStation Three."

I listened as he shouted his request over the rambunctious EBStop crowd to the gentleman manager, and then heard, too, his reply:

"No," said he. "Oh wait---I mean yeah"
"Sixty gig?" queried Killa.
"Yeah," said the manager. "We have one back here. Do you want it?"

My initial plan was to hold out and buy the system to coincide with the release of some sort of desirable software for the system. Ridge Racer notwithstanding, there aren't any titles of interest arriving until February or March. However, when I heard about this one readily available PS3, I was seized by that familiar panic sensation---What if everyone else is waiting until February to buy their PS3, too? What if the rarity of the console over the Christmas holiday was only a prelude to the coming PS3 drought? What if Sony has to divert units slated for America in order to launch in Europe? What if this is my only chance?!

I quickly got a hold of myself and told Killa to take a pass on this particular PS3. After all, I reasoned, if Killa can walk into a store at random and find a PS3 on his first try, how rare can they be?

I told my hubby about it later and he chastised me for not leaping at the knock of opportunity. If I had only been more decisive, we, too, could have spent the evening plugging and replugging our various cables and connectors and then kicking back and relaxing with some untranslated Tekken 5, dubiously downloaded with virtual Hong Kong dollars. If only.

Instead we went to Target to pick up some puppy chow and browse the games. We browsed and browsed, until we browsed right smack into a PS3. This time it was a 20GB so it wasn't really a temptation, but again I was pleasantly surprised to find a PS3 without even trying. I haven't witnessed the stacks of unwanted, unloved PS3s piled high to BestBuy's ceiling, as others have, but it seems the hype over the scarcity has outlived the actual scarcity of the object in question.

However, Wiis and DS Lites remain out of stock at both locations.

The Art of Time Management

Don't we all wish we could be like Flash Man now and then? Admittedly, it does suck to be violently rent by every jackass armed with a Metal Blade, but the ability to stop time is still an attractive proposition. This "Time Stopper," if you will, is a common device in the genre of

science fiction where from the hallowed Mega Man franchise draws much of its atmosphere. And, sure, it has its uses outside of paralyzing protagonists and quelling Quick Man. Why, if it weren't for theoretical temporal conflicts with console clock speed, I could finally catch up on all the gaming I'm supposed to be doing.

As I'm sure you observed in my Resolutions post, I have quite a bit on my gaming plate at the moment. As I prophesied, I have abandoned the Prince on the Island of Time, eternally locked in a conflict with the Empress of Time, in a noble effort to prevent the Sands of Time from ever being created. One particular area of the Island of Time, the Puzzle Chamber, colorfully referred to as "t3h br0k3n Chamb3r 0f Pu22l3m3nt !!1", eventually frustrated me to a point where I had to say to myself, "Killa, you handsome devil, you have a perfectly playable alternative nestled right there in your stylish Puma bag. Why waste anymore time on this cheap port when you could be playing Portable Ops?" So's I says to myself I says, "Hells yeah." A quick swap later and I have been nigh constantly engrossed in sneaking my way around the San Hieroynmo peninsula.

Although I will tell you I am severely tempted to proclaim MPO the best game of 2006 at this very instance, I will wait until I have completed at least one playthrough before I post a review. Regardless, as Steve Miller so eloquently put it, "Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping into the future." I am often times attempting to wrest myself from my girlfriend's loving embrace to squeeze in a few hours of FFXII with Catarina or to kick back with the J Team for a chaotic session of Ultimate Alliance. If only there was more time for such things. But alas, I am an adult now, and the art of time management is not nearly as simple as it was back in the 8-bit era.

Game Boy Murders Child

Smells Like Fox News at Eleven

In a stunning example of overly sensational (i.e., poor) journalism, The Sun, a UK-based newspaper, reported yesterday on the death of a seven-year-old British child who was vacationing in Phuket, Thailand, when he plugged his Christmas Game Boy into a wall socket while allegedly still wet from being in the pool. The full story can be found here.

The sensational part isn't the article itself. The article is fair about pointing out that the hotel's electrical system is more likely to blame than the Game Boy; that the authorities are calling this a tragic accident and attaching no blame; and that the child was both (allegedly) wet from playing in the pool and (assuredly) unsupervised at the time of his death.

The problem is the headline: Connor, 7, killed by Gameboy.

When a child dies of an electric shock (or any other common household hazard, like ingesting toxic cleaning chemicals or drowning in a swimming pool) it's a tragedy. It's not front page news. But if a Gameboy killed that child, that's a juicy story. Jack Thompson is probably salivating all over this as I write.

The Sun article is clearly biased against Nintendo. They fail to mention that this child's death could just as easily been caused by a Sony PSP. Or a deadly, deadly piece of Oneida silverware. But the media is so intent on sensationalizing the "dangers" of video games that this story must have seemed heaven sent. Usually newsmongers only get to report on video games inciting children to kill one another. When the video game actually killed the child, it's a whole brave new world of opportunity for agitating widespread panic in the nongaming public. Mothers, don't let your children grow up to be gamers.

Meanwhile, gamers everywhere should try to ignore the media circus and focus on the tragic fact that a promising young gamer has been taken from among us long before his time.

Hard Wired

My husband and I had been awaiting this day eagerly for quite some time. After weeks of joyous anticipation, the blessed event finally arrived. Our MadCatz Wii component cable was successfully delivered to our doorstep.

I've been trying to get this cable since even before I got the Wii---since 11:56 P.M. on November 18th, to be exact. As I waited patiently at the front of the EB Games line with my Wii, my Twilight Princess, and my extra Wiimote and nunchuck for the clock to tick over to the 19th so that I could finally take the long-awaited items home with me, the clerk asked me if I'd like to add anything to my purchase. In addition to a copy of Marvel Ultimate Alliance, I asked for the component cables, but I was informed they wouldn't arrive until December. No problem. I decided to pick them up at Best Buy the following day after work. Best Buy turned out to be sold out, as were the Nintendo World store and all the other online outlets for such items. For several weeks, I searched high and low for an extra Wiimote for Killa and the component cables. Eventually Killa got his controller, but the cables remained elusive. I finally got a tip that the MadCatz online store had stocked the cable, and I was finally able to order the coveted connector.

Unfortunately, the joyful event immediately unfolded into a complete reworking of our entire entertainment setup. When we purchased our television, we did so with conviction after determining that the set had not one but two HDMI inputs, in a primitive time when most televisions had only one. We were looking ahead toward that beautiful day in which we would have both an HD cable box and a PS3, each in need of, each indeed deserving, its own HDMI input.

Surely, this was the television of the future.

In fact, it is so futuristic that it has no need of primitive component inputs. Surely, one component input would be enough in this great future---in this, the best of all possible worlds. And it was, when the only component connection was from the DVD player to the television. But now the Wii, too, was demanding its turn to bask in the warm glow of the component connection.

In the end, we relegated our DVD player to composite with a whispered promise to upgrade to S-Video in the near future. Unfortunately, our surround sound is also driven through the DVD player, and the MadCatz cable doesn't have enough slack to connect the two audio connectors more than 2 to 3 inches away from the three video connectors. This was eventually circumvented by some arcane process---one involving a completely separate cable that Hubby produced from the ether of our storage closet---that I don't fully understand. All in a day's work for an engineering whiz like my husband.