For those of you who are still unaware, Giant Bomb is live! I am very impressed with the site so far, but it is still in its very early stages. I think with time this site is only going to get better and better. I like that fact that it is primarily run on user-generated content and pages, so it reminds me a lot of GameFAQs when it first started out before it was gobbled up by GameSpot and C.NET.

But yeah... I will keep this blog short because I'm simply just posting this so people can add me to their friends list on Giant Bomb. I have not made any decision about whether I am going to "permanently" relocate to that site, so you can still expect me to post blogs on GameSpot as well. I think what I am probably going to do is simultaneously post my blog posts on GameSpot, Giant Bomb, and Gametrailers (which I stopped doing out of lazyness, and having almost virtually no friends there).

Anyways you guys can add me on Giant Bomb and you can also add me on Gametrailers if you have an account there as well.

That just about covers it, I'm off to bed now, but I hope to see you guys there!

It has been a while since I have really talked about any upcoming games in any detail, so without further ado I give you a list of the 10 games I currently want to get my hands on the most.

10. Diablo III

Diablo II: Lord of Destruction is easily one of my favourite games of all-time, and I am a fan of the first Diablo as well. That being said, you may be wondering why Diablo III is 10th overall on my list. To be perfectly honest, I'm still a little skeptical about this game. The team that is developing this title is not the same team that developed the first two Diablo titles, so the franchise is basically being created by a group of people who for the most part, have no experience working on the Diablo universe. Yes Hellgate: London which was created by some of the key figures responsible for the first two Diablo games was a miserable failure, but I am still skeptical about the remaining Blizzard guys being able to recreate what was so amazing about the original two games when they have already drastically changed the art direction. I mean the only RPG these guys have worked on before is World of Warcraft, and from the unveiling of the game I can see a LOT of World of Warcraft influence unfortunately seeping into this game. Hopefully Blizzard listens to their fans and corrects some of these mistakes. Otherwise, other than some uncertainties, I have faith that Blizzard will do the Diablo series justice and release a spectacular game when it finally does come out.

9. StarCraft II



Like the Diablo games, StarCraft and its expansion Brood War, are two of my favourite games ever created. The difference is that StarCraft is actually the first modern computer game that I ever played, and basically THE game that got me into PC gaming when I was in grade 7 (nearly a decade ago). Anyway, the reason why StarCraft II also is not very high on my list, is because like Diablo III I have massive doubts about how this game will eventually turn out. The graphical styIe is still pretty "meh" for me, (I'm not particularly a fan of Blizzard's 3D graphics, but their 2D graphics were mind-blowing in artistic direction). That being said, I have faith that the gameplay will probably be really solid, and I mostly just want to play this game for the storyline. I can't wait to see Jim Raynor again after 10 years, but I hope for the sake of the game that they bring back the same voice actor or I will be INCREDIBLY disappointed.

8. Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe

Let it be known, that I am a HUGE Mortal Kombat fan. If you do not like Mortal Kombat KEEP IT TO YOURSELF. I don't care what you have to say about why this franchise sucks and why *insert random generic fighting game here* is better. Now that that is out of the way, I was originally extremely skepitcal, and basically WTF? about this game when I first heard about it. However now that I have seen it in action it actually looks relatively promising. I am also interested in some of the DC Universe characters too, but my main motivation for wanting this is simply because it is a new Mortal Kombat game. Also because Armageddon was fairly underwhelming. Sub-Zero on a next-gen platform sounds very inticing to me. FINISH HIM! It should also be known that Batman was and always has been one of my favourite superheroes, so playing as him in a fighting game is basically insanely awesome. I also can't wait to KICK SUPERMAN'S ASS WITH VARIOUS SUPERIOR CHARACTERS. BATMAN > SUPERMAN.

7. Soulcalibur IV

So if I am a HUGE Mortal Kombat fan, then why is Soulcalibur IV ahead? Well Mortal Kombat and Soulcalibur are basically my top 2 favourite fighting game franchises out of EVERYTHING. Yes, every fighting game. I don't care if this makes you think WTF? These games are extremely relevant to my interests, the others, not as much. Probably the main reason why Soulcalibur IV is ahead of Mortal Kombat is because it is being released very soon (although I still won't be able to play it until I buy a new console) and I have also found lately that Soulcalibur is more enjoyable as a pure fighting game. Mortal Kombat is fun don't get me wrong, but obviously Soulcalibur is geared more towards serious fighting game fans than MK has been in recent installments. Anyways, I really love this game's history and what not, and the graphics are absolutely amazing. Darth Vader is also my favourite Star Wars character, so having him in this game is a completely random awesome bonus, kind of like having Batman in Mortal Kombat. Two completely insane things I never thought would happen, but insanely awesome nonetheless. Also, Siegfriend looks ridiculously BADASS in this game, I cannot wait to kick the crap out of a punch of other dudes with Siegfried.

6. God of War III

If my 9.5 review score for God of War II doesn't speak enough for itself, the God of War series is probably my favourite action series of games. It used to be Onimusha, but I think that franchise kind of slipped of the map with Onimusha 4, and still needs to redeem itself. (Onimusha 4 wasn't bad, just felt kind of out of place). Anyways, God of War II is one of the single-most BADASS games I have ever played, and Kratos re-invents what it means to kick ass and be a badass while doing it. While details are scarce, and the game is definitely quite a ways away, God of War III is definitely a game to keep an eye on, because if God of War II was any indication of what this franchise can do the PlayStation 2, and I can't wait to see what severe badassery is going to happen in God of War III. Mostly because God of War went above and beyond pretty much everything there was in the original game, so God of War III is sure to be EPIC as ****.

5. Fable II

WHAT DISS? XBAWKZ GAEM? GTFO MY INTERNETS!!!!!!

In all seriousness, I DO NOT GIVE A FLYING **** WHAT ANYONE SAYS ABOUT IT, FABLE 1 PWNS. If you don't let Fable and you feel the need to tell me about why you think it sucks you can GTFO my profile. The original Fable was an awesome game, but admittedly felt slightly incomplete. Fable: The Lost Chapters basically completely rectified this, and the PC version was amazing (almost instant load times, excellent graphics, excellent controls). That being said, Fable is now resurfacing on new hardware that is surely more than capable of making Fable a more fully-realized game universe. I have watched a lot of footage about this game, and even though I have said before that I would like a PC version, I think this game will be just fine on the Xbox 360. If there is any game that is going to convince me to finally let my guard down and buy a 360 it's going to be this game... well there is one OTHER game that might also do that

4. Gears of War 2

Now I know what you are probably thinking. First of all, I don't own an Xbox 360. You are correct. Second of all, I have never played Gears of War... WRONG! I have talked about it before, but that was a very long time ago. I beat the entire game over a course of 2 nights at my friends house almost a year and a half ago. Gears of War arguably the best co-op game I have ever played. Sitting in the same room as one of your friends blasting dudes all through the night and into the wee hours of the morning is just awesome. Especially when you are in the same room shouting profanities as you chainsaw ugly monsters in the face. Gears of War 2 has me excited because I also want to play this game through co-op during a few insane all-nighters, because that is just an awesome experience and I definitely recommend doing so. Gears of War and Fable are in my humble opinion, the two BEST exclusive game franchises that the Xbox has to offer, so together combined, I may just be getting an Xbox 360 after all. I should also mention that I was never a huge fan of Gears of War's online mode, but the new horde multiplayer mode sounds really freaking awesome.

3. Deus Ex 3

I know I have said this a few times already, so it's probably getting kind of old, but the original Deus Ex is one of the best games I have ever played. It is original, innovative, immersive, excellent story, pretty much EVERYTHING about Deus Ex is almost un-****ing-believable, and if you haven't played it yet you are commiting a serious crime. Deus Ex starts kind of slow, but it ranks up there as one of the best games I have ever played, and probably ever will. Naturally my expectations for Invisible War were quite high, but oh god how I was let down. It is my opinion (and 99% of the opinions of the people who played it) that Invisible War is easily one of the WORST sequels ever created. You actually have to play Deus Ex to comprehend while Invisible War is such a pile of utter **** though. But man, that game is just terrible. ANYWAYS, Deus Ex is being resurrected by the newly founded studio Eidos Montreal who have 24-month development cycles (I believe as a minimum) and are devoted to creating AAA games for the company. So naturally I have extremely high expectations for this game, and from what I have read about what they are doing so far they are bringing back what made Deus Ex such a spectacular game in the first place, and doing away with the garbage game mechanics that single-handedly ruined the franchise. Information is scarce, but if they do it right Deus Ex 3 could be the "Deus Ex" aka: ****ing incredible combination of two genres (FPS & RPG) that just completely ****ing blew my mind as to how incredible of a game it was.

So yeah, WATCH THE TEASER for Deus Ex 3 if you want to know more about it.

2. Dissidia: Final Fantasy

You've had to know by now that this would not be a KnightsofRound top 10 most anticipated games list without at least ONE Final Fantasy game in it. Dissidia: Final Fantasy is easily one of my most anticipated games, simply for the fact that it is a special 20th Anniversary celebration project that takes place in an alternate reality. Basically the evil god Chaos (the main villain from Final Fantasy I) has summoned all of the most power villains from different universes for some evil purpose. Meanwhile Cosmos who is a good god, has summoned the most powerful heroes to combat them. Obviously this is a pretty straight-forward plot and easy excuse to combine the Final Fantasy heroes and villains together in one game, but I'm sure Square will make something suitably epic. For one it will be awesome to play as some of my favourite characters again in a new game, and two, Square has promised that there will be a full story mode for each character to play through. Definitely sounds like this is probably going to be one of the best PSP games. If Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII was any indication of what to expect, I absolutely cannot WAIT for this game.

1. Final Fantasy XIII

Now this shouldn't have been hard to guess. Man, where do I begin? The first Final Fantasy game I had ever played was Final Fantasy VII, and to this day remains my favourite game ever. The only game that has ever challenged that #1 definite spot is Final Fantasy VIII, and over the course of time I have been going back and forth and ultimately I cannot choose which one I like more, which is why I will either just say both of them, or VII, because it was my original favourite game for so many years. Anyways, it is my humble opinion that the Final Fantasy series has been in a bit of disarray for the last few years. I think FFIX kind of disjointed the flow a little bit, but it was nothing too significant. The series got back on track with FFX and delivered another outstanding masterpiece, but after that it all gets hazy. Square released a sequel that was garbage, a bunch of random weird spin-offs, and even merged with long-time rival Enix. I believe the place where Square TRULY went wrong was with Final Fantasy XI. FFXI never should have been an MMO, and if they still wanted to make that game it should have NEVER received a roman numeral. I also believe that FFXII has contributed to disjointing this franchise and making the main series kind of fall off the radar, but that is a rant for another day.

I firmly believe that Final Fantasy XIII is going to set this series back on the right track where it SHOULD OF GONE IN THE FIRST PLACE. This game is the "real" Final Fantasy XI, the game we have been waiting for for 7 years and counting. I can't believe it has been that long since Final Fantasy X. Anyways, this game simply just looks gorgeous, and there is no denying that Lightning is just

I honestly want to play this game so bad that I don't even know what else to say about it. I know that this game is going to be absolutely amazing and I hope to be first in line to buy it when it finally comes out on North American shores.

Instead I will just let you watch the trailer a million times and stare in awe.

When one looks back at the Final Fantasy series on the PlayStation, people generally always think of one game: Final Fantasy VII. Final Fantasy VII changed pretty much everything players knew about the Final Fantasy series.

Due to the massive success of Final Fantasy VII, and Square having six medieval based games under their collective belt, Final Fantasy VII ushered a new era of Final Fantasy games, one that would go beyond what the franchise already knew. This led to Final Fantasy VIII, and its eventual successor, Final Fantasy X. Despite these revolutionary changes to the series and its mainstream success, series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi wanted to create a new Final Fantasy game that would be a fond look at the past for series veterans. That game wound up becoming Final Fantasy IX.

Final Fantasy IX is kind of a mixed bag; it feels as if it was made for people who disliked the new direction the series was headed in, and ultimately feels detrimental to the series progression as a whole.

When you look back at the way the PlayStation Final Fantasy games had evolved, it's not hard to comprehend why Final Fantasy IX barely gets any recognition whatsoever. The games that preceded it made such significant alterations to the franchise that Final Fantasy IX just feels like a massive step backwards in playability, narrative, and overall enjoyment. Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII have epic intriguing narratives that encourage you to press onward, just so you can get that next tidbit of information about the plot, or that next moving cut-scene of character interaction.

On the story side of things Final Fantasy IX feels quite tame, and often at times, boring. The story is relatively decent but fails to ever achieve any epic monumental status like it's predecessors did, most notably being Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy VII, and Final Fantasy VIII. Even the game that succeeds it, Final Fantasy X, surmounts Final Fantasy IX in every conceivable way, which generally just makes this ninth installment feel completely devoid of purpose.

You'll follow the story of Zidane Tribal and the friends he meets along the way in Final Fantasy IX. Zidane is a refreshing change of pace for main characters in the Final Fantasy franchise, as unlike the previous two installments, he is not a brooding loner tough-guy character like Cloud Strife and Squall Leonhart. Instead Zidane is a upbeat cheerful guy who states that he doesn't need a reason to do the good deeds in which he partakes in. There are some other interesting characters that you'll meet along the way, such as Vivi and Steiner, whereas the latter character will provide much comic relief throughout the story. Unfortunately many of the characters fall into predictable cliche archtypes, which is not uncommon in role-playing games, but just feels way too "been there, done that" in Final Fantasy IX. The main reason for this is because many of the characters motives are not made entirely clear, and quite a few of them feel quite shallow. This is partially due to the fact that many of the plot bits that surround them are half-baked and underdeveloped, and even at times completely ignored later on and never fully explained. It's unfortunate, because one of the most significant factors in the previous games has all been intriguing characters that make you strive to progress further in the story, but in Final Fantasy IX few of them actually make you really care about what is going on.

Due to the collection of sometimes shallow characters, the story of Final Fantasy IX suffers drastically, and you will often feel as if your party has no real motivation or goal, and you are simply wandering aimlessly without an overall objective in the grand scheme of things. Final Fantasy games in the past have usually always focused on minor things in the beginning, and then focus on the big picture later on. Unfortunately Final Fantasy IX never really seems to have any focus whatsoever until the final five hours of the game. This is disappointing when you take a 40 hour RPG into consideration.

Probably the most significant change in Final Fantasy IX over its predecessors is that fact that there is little in the way of customization. Final Fantasy VII and VIII were fully customizable, and you could pretty much make any character however you wanted with the exception of their weapon. Final Fantasy IX has every character set into a specific cIass that cannot be changed.

After Final Fantasy VII changed the party configuration from four characters to three, many people probably thought that it would stay this way permanently, especially after Final Fantasy VIII followed the same path. Final Fantasy IX ups the max back to four, but this also brings back some archaic gameplay as well. Final Fantasy IX uses a system that is reminiscent of Final Fantasy VI's magicite/esper system, in which you equip a magicite to a character and they learn magic from it over time. Instead of learning magic however, each character learns a specific ability that corresponds with their job cIass. So for example, Zidane will learn thief-related abilities from items, whereas Vivi will learn black magic spells. This system for the most part works fairly well, but you will have to go out of your way to find the most useful spells in the game, and actually have to go out of your way just to find basic spells, like the third level black magic spells such as Thundaga and so on. Characters will also learn a bunch of other status protection abilities that they can equip. Each character has a limit to how many abilities they can have equipped though, so you will have to change their protective and offensive abilities as you progress to match your enemies attacks and weaknesses.

Along with the previous few titles, Final Fantasy IX brings back the limit break system, but this time they have been renamed to trances. The trance system is similar to the limit break system in Final Fantasy VII where each character has a meter that fills up slowly over time as the character takes damage, rather than being used a desperation moves like in Final Fantasy VIII. The only problem is that unlike Final Fantasy VII, when a characters trance gauge fills up completely, it activates automatically. This is a significant issue with the gameplay, because often you will have trances completely wasted at the end of a battle, just as one of your other characters unleashes your previous command on the enemy to have them all killed. This is incredibly annoying, and happens quite often, and basically makes them completely unreliable.

Final Fantasy IX does do many things right however. The art design is fantastic, and as far as PlayStation 1 games go, it looks wonderful. Unfortunately the character design is a little questionable. Square brought back famed character designer Yoshitaka Amano to design the characters, after being replaced by Tetsuya Nomura for the previous two installments. This was a great move, but for some reason they decided to get another character designer to modify Amano's creations into these odd-looking chibi-esque characters in the game, and the FMVs, which is incredibly disappointing. To further understand this explanation, look up Amano's designs for the characters and then find a picture of what they actually look like in the game. It's unfortunate because the unrealistic look of the characters and the cartoony chibi-esque characters goes against everything that Final Fantasy VII and VIII had achieved, and makes it lose a lot of immersion.

Nobuo Uematsu returns once again for his ninth score, and e does a pretty good job too, but ultimately fails to match his success with some of the previous games. There are a few noticeably cool tunes, but due to the lack of an epic fell within the game itself, the score seems to suffer as well, and generally feels mostly forgettable along with the story.

When it comes down to it, Final Fantasy IX is ultimately a disappointing game. It is not a bad game by any means, it just feels redundant, somewhat pointless, and often times very boring and slow with the gameplay itself. The advancements made with the previous games feel like they have been for naught, but fortunately they have returned in the successor, Final Fantasy X. Ultimately your enjoyment of Final Fantasy IX will probably be based on how you think of the other games in the series. If you absolutely love the 2D Final Fantasy games, but didn't really like the changes made in Final Fantasy VII and VIII, you will probably very much enjoy this ninth installment. On the other hand, if you loved the progress made in the previous two games, you'll probably sit there scratching your head wondering why exactly this game was made in the first place. Final Fantasy IX had a lot of potential to succeed, but this fond look at the past makes you realize that the direction of this series is headed towards the future, and trying to emulate that past basically does nothing but create a game that can never do anything but stand in the shadow of the games it tries to emulate. As a Final Fantasy fan it's worth checking out, just don't be expecting the grand epics that were the games that preceded it, or you will only set yourself up for disappointment.

Score.

TL;DR Version:

Strengths: References to the past games longtime fans will cherish; The upbeat Zidane is a refreshing main character; musical score gets the job done.

Weaknesses: Shallow characters; Story lacks real motivation and overall plot for the majority of the game; Can't help but feel contrived, derivative, and somewhat pointless; Feels detrimental towards the evolution of the series.

Post-Review Thoughts:

I know Final Fantasy IX fans will probably take offense to my review, and probably won't agree with the majority of the things that I said either. Fact is, regardless of what anyone says, Final Fantasy IX DID have an impact on the evolution of this franchise. I think that it the way it came out after Final Fantasy VII and VIII, it basically set itself up for it's own failure. There is no arguing that FFIX is the least popular of the PlayStation 1 era games, now I know why. If you've never played FFVII and FFVIII you probably won't understand my review.

That being said, as a Final Fantasy fan, I am glad that I played this game. Unfortunately I just don't think it lives up to the franchise, and just feels out of place for me. Not sure if I'll ever play it again, but it was good for what it was.

So the BIG THREE press conferences are all said and done. Therefore I am here to bring to you my COMPLETELY UNBIASED

AND NOT SONY FANBOY view on these events regardless of the fact that I only watched the Sony press conference.

Microsoft

From what I have read and heard about from the Microsoft conference they had a fairly decent, yet predictable showing. You've got your typical egotistical stroke-your-own-ego self-promotion garbage like usually and the extremely ****ing stupid fake "pro-Xbox commercials" and you have a typical Microsoft press conference.

The usual crap aside, Microsoft seemed to do a moderately decent showing of games we already knew about but regardless of that, they are all generally extremely hyped games that are sure to succeed. I am talking about games like Gears of War 2, and Fable 2 of course. Yes I understand Microsoft, you have a bunch of games that are also the PC and PS3 and that somehow makes you special and more important, I get it.

Then Microsoft did something I honestly never thought would happen. They somehow aquired FINAL FANTASY XIII to be released simultaneously for the Xbox 360 alongside the PlayStation 3 version in NORTH AMERICA.

This is easily the most W.T.F. WHAT THE ****

HOLY ****

OMGWTFBBQ announcement of E3.

Even though I do not own an Xbox 360, or any other 7th generation console for that matter, I was NOT excited about this. In all actuality at first I felt a little hollow on the inside. Sony fanboyish-ness seeping through? Probably, but after a while I stopped caring. I like to see the positives in this that at least Xbox 360 owners will actually have the chance to play this game since a lot of them seem absolutely adamant with the opinion that the PlayStation 3 is a steaming pile of dog turd with the words SONY PLAYSTATION 3 written on it, and buying one would condemn them to hell for all of enternity.

I still plan on buying a PlayStation 3 as my first 7th generation console, and I still have absolutely no desire to play FFXIII on an Xbox 360. Why? Well I won't go into massive details, but I don't think anyone can deny that the PS3 version will ultimately be superior, considering the fact that the game is being developed for PS3, and then PORTED to Xbox 360. As well as the fact that the PS3 version will be on a single Blu-Ray disc, whereas the Xbox 360 version will have a bunch of compressed data crammed onto 50 discs. I mean seriously, have you guys SEEN the trailer?

ANYWAY, still cool for Xbox devotees, that they actually have the chance to experience this franchise, and it also lets some of the people who only play American games see what all the fuss is about (Hopefully FFXIII will actually live up to the franchises expectations, but from what I've seen I am 100% sure that this game is going to shatter expectations). I also have to give credit to Microsoft for actually managing to pull this off.

VERDICT:

+WINS EPICALLY DUE TO MASSIVE JRP-STEALAGE.
+WINS EPICALLY DUE TO AWESOME FABLE 2 AND GEARS 2.
+KO'S THE FINAL BOSS OF THE INTERNET IN 1 HIT FOR STEALING FFXIII.

-FAILS MISERABLY FOR RANTING ABOUT BORING COMPANY JARGON AND LAME SELF-PROMOTION VIDEOS NO ONE CARES ABOUT.
-FAILS EPICALLY FOR CONTINUING TO ACT LIKE ALL OF THEIR 3RD PARTY MULTIPLATFORM GAMES ARE EXCLUSIVE TO 360.
-FAILS EPICALLY FOR NOT TALKING ABOUT ANYTHING BEYOND 2008, WHICH IS PRETTY MUCH EXACTLY WHAT THEY DID LAST YEAR.

Nintendo

It is my humble opinion that the Nintendo E3 2007 Press Conference was a miserable failure of epic proportions, and therefore I had absolutely zero expectations and absolutely no motivation whatsoever to watch their E3 2008 conference. Thankfully I was not foolish enough to watch it, because when I woke up this morning to watch the Sony press conference I literally EL OH

****ING EL'D at the games Nintendo announced during their conference.

I will avoid going into specifics as to avoid looking like some anti-Nintendo zealot, but let's just say that my interest in the Wii has been at negative 0 ever since the system launched, and Nintendo has done nothing since but make make me think of them as an absolute joke. I still have interest in their handhelds, but as far as home consoles go Nintendo has been dead to me for a long time.

Wii Music? I mean seriously are you kidding me? Isn't the whole POINT of a music game to have timing and rhythm? This game basically goes against all logic.

'Nuff said.

VERDICT:

Super Smash Bros. Melee Target Test Announcer Says: FAILURE!

Sony

Sony's conference like last year I think was the best thought-out and seemed to be more about the gamers themselves than just obsessing over how great they are. This is what they did last year, and it seems to be effective in winning the naysayers over. Especially since their E3 2006 conference was an absolute disaster of epic proportions.

Ever since they became the laughing stock of the Internets Sony has seemed to have taken a new approach to these conferences, and it's one that I like. I like the fact that Jack Tretton doesn't talk down to me like I am an ABSOLUTE

IDIOT for not owning a PlayStation 3, which is generally what the guys do in the Microsoft and Nintendo press conferences do. ESPECIALLY REGGI, where does this guy get off acting like he does? I honestly think this guy is a total douchebag, but that is a topic for another day. I like the fact that they talk to me like I am a tender child with special needs and they are going to take care of me.... ok that sounded kind of disturbing...

SO yeah, this conference got a bit boring at parts obviously like they all do, but I liked the fact that they used LittleBigPlanet during the boring part to make it more entertaining, and the audience seemed to appreciate it.

GOD OF WAR III HOLY OM NOM

NOM NOM NOM

THIS GAME

LOOKS THE

TASTY.

What else? MAG? MORE LIKE LAG M I RITE? Ok seriously 256 players online sounds sweet, and the trailer was cool, but it was pre-rendered, so we'll have to wait and see how this one turns out.

VERDICT:

+WINS FOR CONSISTENCY THROUGHOUT
+WINS FOR GOD OF WAR III TRAILER
+WINS FOR MAG SOUNDING LIKE A NEW REFRESHING ONLINE EXPERIENCE
+WINS FOR ACTUALLY CONCENTRATING ON DEVELOPING THEIR OWN IPs INSTEAD OF RELYING ON THIRD PARTY DEVELOPERS LIKE THEY MOSTLY DID WITH THE PS1 AND PS2.

-EPIC FAIL FOR LETTING A BUNCH OF THIRD PARTY EXCLUSIVES SLIP THROUGH THEIR FINGERS SINCE THE PLAYSTATION 3 LAUNCH
-EPIC FAIL FOR NOT HAVING AN OMGWTFBBQ SHOCK DA WROLD GAME ANNOUNCEMENT LIKE AN FFVII REMAKE FOR PS3 ONLY.

AND THUS CONCLUDES THIS PSYCHOTICALLY RANDOM E3 MUMBO JUMBO DISCUSSION, UNTIL NEXT TIME FOLKS. TO INFINITY,

AND BEYOND

!!!!!!!!!

In the sake of simplicity I will keep this in point form, categorized under a few specific games.

Final Fantasy XIII

- Release date announced

- A new trailer that is not a fancy compilation of the same footage that we've seen for the last 3 years.

- Actual gameplay for more than like 0.3 seconds.

Dissidia: Final Fantasy

- New characters annouced

- Release date announced

Fable 2

- PC version announced

Killzone 2

- Release date. It's been like a year since they showed us what they have been working on in secret... yet another E3 roles around with little to no information since the last E3.

And last but not definitely not least, what would TRULY make me need a change of clothing... (but will never happen, but I can dream)

Square Enix announces PS3 remake of Final Fantasy VII

Other than these few things I seem to find E3 kind of dull, considering the majority of the games I actually care about never seem to have anything new revealed at E3 (mostly Japanese games). Guess I will have to wait until the Tokyo Games Show for anything interesting from Square Enix.

There are a few other games I want to know about like StarCraft II and Diablo III, but just like Square Enix, Blizzard never seems to actually show anything interesting at E3.

I know it might not be exactly obvious that I own a Nintendo DS, since I never talk about it, ever. I haven't purchased a new DS game since New Super Mario Bros in 2006, which was an abysmal failure as far as 2D Mario games go. (Don't get me wrong, I think it's a pretty good game, but it doesn't even come close to being anywhere near as good as Super Mario World or Super Mario Bros. 3.

So that begs the question: What have I been doing with my DS for the past 2 years?

I have been using it to play Game Boy Advance games (the last one I bought was Final Fantasy VI Advance which is absolutely ****ing amazing and you should go buy it right now if you haven't played it).

I have also been using my DS as an alarm clock. No, seriously, I'm not joking. I don't remember what I did with my old alarm clock and I'm too lazy to search through all my boxes to find it. (I haven't unpacked the majority of my boxes since I moved to Vancouver Island in November 2006 since I have moved twice already (including the trip from the mainland) and will be moving again sometime in July or August).

So anyways, getting to the point of this blog: I finally CARE about my DS again. Over the past 2 years there have been a few games that have come out that I've been somewhat interested in, but I was never interested in them enough to pay full price when I could buy other seriously kick-ass games like The Orange Box and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. And once again, if you haven't played the previously afformentioned games, go play them now, because they both kick large amounts of ass, and DON'T GIVE ME THIS "TOO BAD I DON'T OWN THIS SYSTEM" CRAP GO GET ONE THEN.

Without further ado, I give you my list of DS games that have gotten me interested in the handheld again. (Not in any specific order)

1. Final Fantasy IV

I've already completed the updated port for the GBA once, and I thought it was a pretty good game. I originally wasn't very interested in this 3D remake because personally I hate the DS' 3D graphics. No offense to people who are obsessed with the DS, but the 3D capabilities of that system are absolutely garbage as far as I'm concerned, especially when compared to the PSP which looks almost like PS2 games. Regardless, I browsed the game's Official Website and watched Trailer #2, and it really got me interested in this game. Even though I still think the graphics are kind of crappy, seeing this game re-imagined in 3D with voice acting, and more cinematic cutscenes is highly intriguing. (Although I still stand by my opinion that this game should of been remade on the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360). I know graphics don't make a game, but I find myself getting sick of people using that excuse these days. In this day and age we've been spoiled with some serious gorgeous graphics, and it pisses me off when people use that excuse. The reason, is because a lot of developers make portable games because it requires much less work to create blocky pixelated characters on a DS, than it does to make highly advanced models and textures on a home console.

2. Dragon Quest IV

I'll be honest, I have owned Dragon Quest VIII for about a year now, and I still haven't finished it. It's not because it is a bad game or anything, quite the opposite, that game is amazing. I just have kept getting sidetracked with other games that I haven't been able to sit down and give it the attention it deserves. I have had some urges to finally sit down and play Final Fantasy XII, which is a game I have owned since November 2007 and haven't played yet. I know what you are thinking, I am obsessed with Final Fantasy, why have I not played this game? Well I played it when it first came out on November 1st 2006, and I wasn't really that impressed with it. It was ok... but it just didn't feel like Final Fantasy to me, and therefore I have been kind of apathetic towards actually playing it. Regardless, I want to get it out of the way, but I am not starting it until I finish Dragon Quest VIII, so that gives me some incentive to actually give that game the attention it deserves.

Anyway, on to Dragon Quest IV. I don't really have much to say about this game since I don't know much about it, but it's just as legendary in Japan as Final Fantasy, if not more, and from the 17 hours or so that I've spent playing Dragon Quest VIII so far, I know that this series definitely has some quality games, or it wouldn't have lasted this long.

3. Chrono Trigger
Do I really need to say why I am excited about this? Chrono Trigger was an amazing game for its time, and I am excited as the possibility of owning a much more polished version of this game, since I do not have a Super Nintendo (I wish I did though, that system pwns). So yeah, even though I haven't play Chrono Trigger on my Final Fantasy Chornicles disc, I tried it out when I bought it to make sure it worked, and the load times in Chrono Trigger were kind of irritating. I'd also like to replay the game since it's been a couple years since I played the SNES version.

The funny thing about this, is that all of my most anticipated DS games are RPGs. I only actually own 1 other RPG for the DS which is Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. The thing I've noticed, is that generally a handheld's success with me generally is based on how many quality RPGs it has. The DS has so far had none that have really interested me whatsoever, so thankfully there are a handful coming out soon, which are all courtesy of Square Enix.

Hopefully Square Enix and Nintendo will colaborate once more and get a DS port of Super Mario RPG out the door. (It was made by Square Enix for those that are unaware, but naturally the Mario characters are all owned by Nintendo).

So that leaves me with this question for you guys:

What are your most anticipated DS games?