It may shock or surprise you - but there's actually a really big game coming out this month. Well, end of the month, specifically. That being Namco's heavily anticipated Soul Calibur IV - the first true current gen iteration of the series. As a fighting game fan, I'm very excited - it's kicking off a great year of fighting games (I mean traditional fighters - unlike Brawl). However, at the same time, I'm very skeptical. Why? Let me explain.

I'm not what you'd call a hardcore Soul Cal fan. I mean, with the exception of the Wii Legends game, the arcade version of Soul Edge (which is a great title for a game) and the Xbox version of Soul Calibur II, I've played just about every entry of the series on all its platforms - but even then, it's not the one game that I completely devote all my time to. It's nothing to do with the game itself - don't get me wrong, I LOVE the games, but I just can't get into them for extended periods of time (like I used to do with Tekken).

Part of my hopes for SC4 being great come as me wanting redemption for Soul Calibur 3. I'm not going to get into the debate about whether or not it should have been a multiplatform game or even whether or not it should have debuted in the arcades first - I find that irrelevant. What did get to me was all the various problems that the game presented, such as lots of balances issues, poorly implemented story modes etc.

What was wrong with SC3 was the focus on singleplayer gaming. That's not a problem. What is a problem is that Namco saw fit to take out single player and multiplayer modes which are staples of their fighting games. There's no survival mode, no time attack mode, or team battle mode (which has always been FUN). Instead, they were replaced with some poorly implemented single player modes that were hampered by plenty of issues.

The first mode was essentially the story mode - "Tales of Souls". Literally, you could choose three different characters, and no matter what, you would encounter the same events for all three characters. Granted, you'd get text telling you about what was happening in the 'story', but it was the exact same thing for all the characters in the game - just your characters name would be replaced. You would always fight the exact same opponents with the exact same cutscene - most notably newcomers Tira and Zasalamel. The only difference is that the events might unfold happen at different stages based on the way you would play the story. However, NO MATTER WHAT, you would ALWAYS fight them in each characters story. I can't describe how crazy it drove me.

What was worse in regards to the story mode - geting each characters true endings. To do this, you would have complete a certain path (which was different for each character) and not lose a SINGLE FIGHT. This is important - Soul Calibur 3 had some really unbalanced and schizhophrenic AI. You'd be fighting either cakewalks or beastly opponents that wouldn't let you win. The worst case came in the form of Olcadan (one of the other new characters). Basically, Olcadan was that games 'random' character - the one that could mimic other peoples movelists (think Mokujin from Tekken) - whom notably had the head of the O RLY owl. Long story short - his only role in the story mode was to make sure you GOT THE CRAP KICKED OUT OF YOU. That's not to say that I suck, but seriously - it's almost to a ridiculous degree how badly Olcadan is overpowered.

I wish I could talk more about the other single player mode - Chronicles of the Sword, but I honestly spent so little time on it, that it wouldn't be fair to justify it. It's not because I got bored with the game - but because of one of the most infamous glitches in the game. Simply enough - if you delete something on your memory card that has Soul Calibur 3 data, the SC3 data becomes corrupt - and it makes it impossible to save Chronicles data unless you were willing to delete the SC3 data and start from scratch. Sad thing is, when it was re-released as a Platnium/Greatest hits game, it didn't get fixed.

Though there is some good stuff in that game. The character creation stuff is awesome, and there's tonnes to unlock. The game itself isn't bad - just Namco screwed around with what made Soul Calibur 2 great (such as removing modes for no reason).

Maybe I'll continue this later - I'd like to talk about Soul Calibur IV by itself and see what could be cool and not so cool about it.

Until then...later.

Today's a great day to be a gamer. PS3 owners are treated to 2.40 - the update that we've all been waiting for (and yet, is still disappointing), Soul Calibur is confirmed to not have a gargantuan install (at least, for the PS3 anyway), but that's small time compared to a small annoucement made by one of the largest game companies of all time - and subject to much criticism (especially from my good friend Jason).

Direct Your Browser To This Address

If the reference goes over your head, allow me to explain this in the most civil way I can express this.

CHRONO TRIGGER IS HEADING TO THE DS.

This is fantastic news. CT is, without a doubt, the greatest JRPG ever made. It's FAR better than Final Fantasy VII, it's better than FF's IV, VI and IX (the holy trinity of JRPG's, if you ask me) - in fact, I'd say it's the best thing that Square have ever done. You know how people look up to Planescape Torment or Baldurs Gate II as the pinnacle of Western Role Playing Games - CT is on THAT level.

There's just one slight problem - so far, it's confirmed for a Winter '08 release in Japan. That's awesome and all, but there's no word on an English release. Granted, I wasn't expecting it, but this is the one thing that I've been praying for years for. Let me explain - CT was originally released in America and Japan on the SNES, back when Square didn't have an European distributor (which is why we didn't get any of Square's games prior to FF7). Even when Square had an European distributor - we were still deprived of the goodness of Chrono Trigger (Playstation remake) or its sequel (Chrono Cross).

Square have been doing some great stuff with the DS recently. They've released some fantastic work (go play The World Ends With You) and have been great in release their English versions of games around the same time (or earlier in Australia/Europe!). There's no excuse for Square NOT to release the game in PAL - there are people who have been waiting for around 15 years to get a PAL version of that game.

It'd be a tragedy if Square refused to release it in PAL AGAIN. But anyway - the news is great. You know what would make this day even better? If Nintendo released a DS port of this, and it's sequels, in English, and in PAL:

Right-io -

Podcast 17 - Half Year In Review

This was a fun podcast to record - granted, I had liked to do the feature discussion a little differently - but hey, you'll find no bigger games than Brawl, GTA or MGS. I'd also like to know that we're one of the few podcasts that got the Diablo 3 news out early. Enjoy it guys, it's only an hour long, and it's worth the listen.

But this blog isn't just about the podcast. My brothers and I visted my cousins today, and due mostly to laziness and what not, ended up playing loads of Super Mario Kart. Namely, my brothers and cousins spent their time trying to beat three of the 100CC cups (Flower, Star and Special), as well as 150CC Special. Awesome stuff - it's amazing how a game that's over 15 years old still looks, sounds and plays awesomely.

Just now, I was messing around with one of my favourite PS1 games - Oddworld: Abes Oddyssey. Brilliant game, but I hadn't played it for YEARS. Just quickly going through the first level of the game - I stumbled across this. Just before you finish off the level, you're greeted with this billboard:

Wow. Even 10 years on that's still a surprise. I'm shocked at just how dark this game was - it's really quite something. The rumours of Oddworld Inhabitants (the developers of the series) getting back into game development makes me happy.

That's all for now. Later.

Rock Band 2 confirmed, dontcha know?

I should be excited. I really should - I liked the idea of Rock Band, and I'm still amazed at both the amount and quality of DLC that you can get to enrich the experience. And I like rhythm games - so that should be awesome enough huh? Unfortunately, I'm not excited. In fact, Rock Band 2 has just rated a "meh" for me. Why? I just can't find this news exciting because of two factors - EA and the fact that the 360 game is a timed exclusive.

Let's begin with EA. I'm sure Australians and Europeans will know all about this, but for the American readers (which there are some), let me explain. Basically, as EA are the distributor for the game, they haven't released it in all PAL territories. Only the UK recieved copies, and even THAT was one large cluster**** (such as pricing concerns, and the PS3 version didn't get a release. LAME). What really gets me about this is that EA haven't given a REASON why they're delaying the release. I have no idea what the reason is, be it licensing issues (which would be understandable), hardware issues (which, again, is fair enough - given the problems people have with the controllers) or hell, even localising issues (maybe EA/MTV/Harmonix want to try get the rights to AC/DC or Airbourne or Jet or whatever).

That irriates me - I don't mind waiting for something that I know is going to be worth my money and time, but that's ONLY when there's a proper reason. If it's PAL/NTSC conversion, then that's pushing it, but acceptable. If it's translation, then fair enough. HOWEVER, when there's no reason whatsoever, then that bothers me. "No Comment" is not an answer EA.

Now let's go onto the whole 360 timed exclusive deal (read the article). Basically, when the game comes out in September, US gamers will be able to get the 360 version and ONLY the 360 version. Now, from a business perspective, this makes sense. After all, most multi-plat games sell better on the 360 because of the install base and because Live is a huge place to get lots of great content (this I'll proudly admit - even as a PS3 owner).

What gets to me about this is that it's totally unecessary. I mean, the original game was released on the same day on both platforms with no noticable differences between the two. Granted, the only real difference was that content was released earlier on the 360 than the PS3, but that's really not much of a selling point - the stuff you'd see in System Wars and what not. Again, from a business perspective, it's totally acceptable, if not utterly unecessary.

There is a chance that EA could still release the game though. I mean, surely they would have seen the potential of sales they could get worldwide, and just how many people would totally be willing to shill out however so much for the game. Who knows? They might pull the same stunt with Guitar Hero and release the original game in the not too distant future, then release the sequel later in the year. Or the sequel could possibly be released. Who knows? Though it would be interesting to see if Guitar Hero World Tour gets released first.

Finally, while we're on the subject - for the love of god Harmonix, release a KEYBOARD attachment. And Prince DLC. That is all.

And I JUST bought Diablo 2....

I'd like to think that I've got a pretty good taste in music - much like my games. I'm the kind of guy that refuses to listen to anything released in a recent span of time unless it's really quite something. I'm the kind of guy that has no tolerance for anything in a 'Top 40' or whatever. Maybe I'd also consider myself the kind of guy that upon listening to the latest song by a favourite band/singer would remark "I like their old stuff better than their new stuff". Well...maybe not that elitist. What does this have to do with gaming?

Well, it's to do with Guitar Hero, actually. Now, I know it's cool to hate on the series since Neversoft (tied with EA and THQ as the kings of iteration) took over and did a decent job with GH3, and also since Rock Band is the far better game. Personally, I think Neversoft aren't that bad, and as awesome as Rock Band is (and as well as the AMOUNT of content available for the game), I can't honestly have a proper opinion on it since EA haven't/forgetten to (take your pick) release it down here. What's really stunned me is the effort that Activision are doing to ensure that this year (with THREE Guitar Hero games), someone will pick up a new Guitar Hero game. Let's take a look at all three:

Guitar Hero Aerosmith

Let's begin with the least exciting of the three. Yeah, it's Aerosmith - not exactly the greatest rock band in the world, but there's now two songs on the game that have actually piqued my interest for the project. Well, it's one song and a remixed version of another song anyway - Run DMC's version of Walk this Way, as well as King of Rock. The best part? The remix is the default version you get - you have to unlock the original version!

Yeah, I know - it was confirmed not too long ago that Run DMC would be involved in some fashion (because of a video doc showcasing DMC doing some Mo-Cap work for the game), but they're two great songs. The Run DMC version of Walk this Way is the far superior version of the song, and King of Rock is a great song that would be interesting to play. Shame you can't do the rap portions yourself. That would've been awesome.

The other thing that really interests me is the idea of 'interactive greatest hits'. Yes, I know it sounds like a marketing buzz word, but the idea does sound fascinating. Imagine being able to play through the greatest hits of your favourite band - as well as learning about their history. It does make for an interesting experience, but you'd need more than just a Guitar to do it. It goes against what Guitar Hero is, but honestly, there's a reason why "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing", the bands biggest song, isn't in the game.

Guitar Hero On Tour

The first true (not including mobile phones) portable version of the game - and somewhat interesting. After all, there aren't very many portable games out there that use a specialized controller to play the game. Initially when the partial tracklist was revealed, and the PAINFUL (check that stuff out - seriously) promotional videos as well, I was extremely skeptical. Hell, even on the podcast we dissed the playlist. Now that the full playlist has actually been revealed...I'm honestly shocked - it's actually decent.

Granted, there is some crap in there (Maroon 5, anyway), but there's also stuff like Black Magic Woman, Hit Me With Your Best Shot and Jessies Girl. The most inspired choice, however, is "Knock Me Down" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Why inspired? Well, every Red Hot Chili Peppers song has always either been Higher Ground or something else. Knock Me Down is one of their better songs - even though some of the lyrical content had to be changed. It'd be interesting to play it actually...

As well as that - it also looks like some of the songs offer a challenge. Look up some clips on YouTube (or check back in a month, anyway), and there's already some songs on there (specifically "I Don't Want To Stop" by Ozzy Osbourne) that actually look difficult. Why is this a good thing? It's just good to see that the game isn't any more nerfed without the extra button.

Guitar Hero World Tour

And now we come to the most interesting title of the bunch. Is it a Rock Band clone? Well...yes and no. (remember - periphial based music games were Konami's idea - Rock Band just completed the idea that Konami were going for when you could link up Drum-Mania and Guitar Freaks machines).

What gets me the most interested in the game is the customization aspect of it all. Neversoft have always been great with offering a great amount of customizable options - take a look at the amount of stuff you can customize in any of their Tony Hawk games, it's ridiculous. Then there's the music creator, which can go either way. Either it can be simple, yet hard to master, or it's only for those who actually know how to create music. Though am I wrong in feeling that the majority of people will be creating Dragonforce-esque guitar riffs?

I can't say much more about the track list (because honestly, there have only been a few songs revealed), but I love what the Wii version is going to do with DLC. That's great to see that DLC can actually be done via use of a SD card - something that Nintendo need to look at to fix that storage problem.

Otherwise, I'm interested. After all - it'll be getting a release down here (I hope so, anyway).

Later...