Hilden and I took a ride out to my future neighborhood this afternoon, wanting to check out the area and find a place to eat. I was prepared for an afternoon in suburban hell and suburban hell was exactly what I received. Gone are my days of dingy little pubs and back street watering holes. Now is the time for shiny corporate chains posing as "neighborhood bar and grills". Although while inside the local Applebee's and viewing the scads of stupid shit they have tacked to the walls, we did see a girl with a ring in her nose.
So we had that going for us.
I hope you all enjoyed your New Year's festivities. It seems as though the older I get, the more uninteresting my New Year's Eve agenda is. No, it wasn't even as exciting as this guy's, as sad as that is. The evening consisted of a game of cribbage with my wife while waiting for a short list of friends to show up. A list which included a very sick Red Menace. Apparently the river of fluids pouring from every orifice held subsided long enough for him to ring in the new year with Dick Clark and I.
And what the hell is with that show anyway? Is it running on empty so much that their main attraction is Cindy Lauper? I know it's New Year's Eve and girl's just wanna have fun, but shit, man, at least give me some juggling midgets.
The rest of the evening consisted of me watching VH1's top 100 Hard Rock Bands of All Time until I passed out. And unfortunately for me, that resulted in waking up ten hours later with a King's X song stuck in my head.
Well, I guess it is love that holds us all together.
I just had to let you know.
I need to turn you folks on. Don't worry, I won't touch you. By default, NEC is my favorite publisher. I know, they've published two games in nearly the last decade, but you must keep in mind my tenderness for the Turbografx-16. Anyway, their latest effort, Culdcept has sucked me in. And I'm generally a guy turned off by board/card/fantasy games; mainly by association. The long and short of it is that it's one part Monopoly, one part Magic the Gathering, and one part niche Japanese style. The result is endless amounts of deck customization, creature summoning, and all around dork heaven. So if you're looking for a great multiplayer game to bust out with your geek buddies, or if you just want to support good ol' NEC, make sure you pick it up.
My taglines are becoming less and less meaningful. You'll soon find out that this post has nothing at all to do with cabbage.
Charles writes:
Dear Sir,
Just want to ask if ff12 will no longer have random battles likle xenosaga and cronocross. I think that will be great. Also will there be back ground music this time around in explorations and map since I observe that Rpg's of today lacks background music during gameplay but only in cut scenes.
About Xenosaga 2 just wnat to ask if this time they will have 3D camera angles where you can manipulate it just like in dark cloud and also the same question about the background music will Xenosaga 2 have one since the first one lacks much in the exploration part and field map. Also will both this game support progressive scan.
By the way will DQ 8 be release in US. When?
I hope my letter be given attention. More power to you
Sincerelt your's
Charles
Well Charles, I'm generally the last person on earth to take a Final Fantasy question, so I passed this one over to Adam. Here's his response:
It's too early yet to answer the question about FFXII. Although Famitsu recently reported an FFX-2-like battle system for XII with some enhancements, although they didn't specify whether or not there would be random battles.
And about there not being much background music in RPGs, you need to get your stereo checked because there almost always is music going in the background of most RPGs, either during exploration or map screens, in addition to those of the cutscenes. Although I know offhand that Hitoshi Sakimoto (FFTactics and Vagrant Story) is composing the music this time around.
It's far, far too early in Xenosaga 2's development cycle for any of those questions to be answered, unfortunately.
Dragon Quest 8 doesn't have a date yet for the US, but it's a fair bet that it'll make it sometime in late 2004. It is being made by the people behind Dark Cloud 2, which most people think is a way to appeal to a broader market, so it's almost certain that the game will come stateside a lot sooner after the Japanese release then it took for Dragon Quest VII to be localized.
So there you have it, my friend. I hope that helps.
Phil writes:
Hey John,
Long time no speak :)
Anyways, for those who remember me I'm Phil and I used to write various bits and bats for this excellent site (Across the Pond etc). I just figured I'd say hi and happy Xmas to all of the GWX staff and readers and make a small contribution to CWJ for the first time.
I'd like to also comment on a point that Craig brought up in the last update about companies like Black Isle disapearing lately. I think the games industry is starting to hit a huge transition stage right now - as it grows and evolves many smaller yet devoted games developers are either being bought out or they are going bust. Hell even Square and Enix had to merge! Sega have had Sammy buy a huge share and I think we'll see a lot of other great companies merge or disappear in the next couple of years.
Unfortunately, this may have a toll on the quantity of original games being released as companies become less able to take risks in favor of repeating a formula that sold well in the past.
I for one really hope that companies like Capcom and Namco continue to show us all just how much originality is still to be had in games. It's great to see games like Viewtiful Joe arrive and give us a swift originality kick up the arse but I'm starting to wonder whether there will be many new games left once the 'real' developers get swallowed by some of the huge liscence based companies.
Anyway, I hope you all have a great Xmas and New Year,
Phil
PHIL! It's great to hear from you. As Phil mentioned, he used to be the GWX European Correspondent and has been sorely missed ever since his departure.
Phil's correct in stating that the gaming industry is coming out of puberty and finally starting to play with the big boys. To me, that's a double-edged sword. On one hand, we get big production value, flashier and more impressive games, etc. On the other hand, niche games like Ikaruga and Metal Arms may fall victim to big business mentalities. Lord knows I'd much rather have twenty Culdcepts than one more Charlie's Angels game.
One more letter for you.
Just writing to let you, and those that read this know, I just found a GREAT website for all kinds of video game related items, that aren't the game itself. I had been searching for the Silent Hill 1&2 Soundtracks for months, and the best I could find was imports that sell for $40 + shipping. I found them both on this site in a bundle for $18, and $4 shipping. Can't beat that. Just type in Final Fantasy in their search engine and look at all the crap that comes up. Most of it I had no idea existed. Like Clocks and Zippos? Tons of Wall scrolls and all the Toys and Soundtracks for every FF game, and all at reasonable prices.
If you like video game realted junk this is the website for you. I mean, they have freakin' Mario Sunshine Toys, does it get better then that?
Mike, you hit a soft spot with me. I absolutely adore Japanese toys, gadgets and baubles. They have a certain charm and novelty that I can't quite place. I usually get my stuff from National Console Support, but I'll be sure to check out this place as well.
Well, sorry I haven't been very verbose lately. Of course, perhaps that's a good thing. I'll be sure to fill you in on all the minutia that is GWX in the next entry. I'd still love to get some feedback on the GWX Awards Feature so be sure to send in your comments.
I know, I know. Where the hell has the staff of GamingWorld X been for the last week? Well, I'm sure you've all heard of a little holiday called Christmas. Well, we decided that rather than sitting in front of our computers for hours on end we'd spend some time with our neglected families and rake in piles of Christmas loot. I know, "raking in loot" isn't exactly in the true spirit of Christmas, but unlike other publications out there, we're not going to try to fool you into thinking that giving and receiving games isn't at the top of our holiday priorities.
Every year, two of my college roommates (Hilden and Moe, to be specific) get together to exchange games. It basically involves each of us buying the three copies of the same game and passing them around. This tradition has been going on for the better part of a decade now, and since our lives have separated us geographically, Xbox Live has taken over our holiday gift giving. Now we can play Project Gotham Racing 2 and ESPN NBA Basketball from seven hours away. And while we wait for the others to log on, we can suck away solo hours on Knights of the Old Republic.
We also had a small, five-man LAN party a few nights back with a couple other friends. The games of choice were Rainbow Six 3 and Crimson Skies. Nothing can be cooler than setting up a room full of televisions and a room full of Xboxes.
I hope you all enjoyed your holiday seasons and I hope Santa or whomever gave you everything you wanted. Feel free to drop me a line and let me know what games you were blessed with over the last week.
I'm not sure if I posted this one yet or not, but here goes:
i just found your site through game rankings, great reviews good writers, nice original layout! the rainbow six 3 review was spot on. i will be visiting regularily and will spread word.
-pete
Thanks Pete. It seems that a lot of our regular readers found us through Game Rankings and I'm glad you like what you see.
Ya, you are totally right about the discover console. I was recently reading some of the articles about the console, and it pretty much made me amazed and surprised. Although I am some what concerned about the plans that they have planned out for it. For instance I am concerned about the multiple systems . If you are going to come out with the console before christmas, don' t tell everyone about the better or more stronger system that will come out 2 or 3 months right after the first system has came out, because if you do that than it might stall customers about buying the first systems than instead saving their money for the better one. So if I was working for the disc corporation I would re-plan
and schedule the other console until about 5 or 6 months, so by then customers wouldn't have to stall about buying a better console because it would be about half a year until another console will come out. Other than that I am amazed of all the plans that they have organized and thought out.
Thanks Freez109
I'm having trouble locating our DISCover articles right now thanks to our relaunch and the new layout's funky archiving, but we had quite a bit of contact with the folks at DISC for quite a while, being the first site on the web to get a full interview with the company president and also the first to get a full hands on with the system. Unfortunately, we haven't heard a peep from them since E3 last May. I fear that our suspicions may have been well founded and it was too big of a business for that tiny, inexperienced company to handle.
Furthermore, the units they had on display seemed flimsy and slapped together, as did the actual interface of the system. Hopefully something will come out of it, as I love new consoles, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
Your letter to Mr. Luedtke
Haha, man I just had to leave that up there! ;) So I hope Christmas is treating you well! Mine's been pretty good so far, still alot left to do though, but I'm looking forward to Christmas and spending time with family and such... Merry Christmas, John!
Let me tip you in on the best Christmas present you can give yourself. In the first free five minutes you have, go see Return of the King. It's simply one of the most amazing movies I've ever seen. I don't want to talk about it to spoil it, but just go see it, you won't be disapointed! It's my favorite movie, tied with Braveheart (Braveheart? Weird taste in movies for a girl... Don't worry, another one of my favorites is Ever After, a redone version of Cinderella =P) Go see the movie! Sneak out, if you have too. ;) I haven't written in in awhile, but I'll see if I can keep it more regular. Merry Christmas! ~Heather
Welcome back, Heather! Hilden and I finally took the time to see Return of the King the other day, and yes, it met and exceeded all my expectations. There were a few discrepancies between the book and the movie that sort of bothered me, but that's to be expected.
We went the day after Christmas and due to all the minivans, strollers, and idiots on the road, it took us nearly 5 1/2 hours just to see the damn movie! Yeah, I almost lost it.
Thank you for the holiday wishes. I forgot to mention that Christine and I also bought a house for Christmas. Nothing like spending over a quarter of a million dollars that you don't and probably will never have. Yeah, I'm moving out to the 'burbs and Hilden is relishing the "suburban family man jokes" he now has access to. Screw it. I'll move out to the 'burbs and leave him with the neighbors that burn their houses down with crack pipes.
And with that, I'm out. Stay tuned for our second annual GWX Awards. I expect a great deal of controversy, and I'm sure I'm going to be sorry for having that handy little email form below.
