Welcome all. Most people online typically just refer to me as JT, so let's just stick with that.

If you want to know a bit more about me, check out my opening blog.

If you're going to send me a friend request in a game, please let me know who you are and where you got my ID from. Thanks.

Otherwise, I hope you enjoy what I have here to post. Thanks for reading.

• 19Dec 09

  A Snowy Top Picks of 2009

  Snowy because it's been snowing all day here. There's already been about 12 inches so far, and it's still coming down. So the better part of my day has been spent either shoveling up said snow, or trying to iron out my list of top picks for the year. Thus, we come to the main point of this blog. One thing I need to mention, I slightly edited my one list in the last blog as there was one big game that slipped my mind when recapping my previous picks. Anyways, onto my top choices for 2009.

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  Honorable Mention: Muramasa: The Demon Blade

  

  Beauty in motion. Muramasa is one of the few games this year that made the Wii still worth owning.It's beautiful artwork, tight controls, flowing 2D combat, numerous bosses that stem from Japanese mythology,and serene musical score create a great gaming experience.

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  Number 5: Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time

  

  The latest addition to Insomniac Games' long running franchise is certainly one of it's best. It's a shining example of the large colorful worlds, witty dialogue, and tight balance of action/platforming that the series is known for.

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  Number 4: Killzone 2

  

  Killzone 2 may have been in development for four+ years, but the wait has certainly been worth it. It's got visuals that are almost comparable to the original 2005 trailer that had everyone soiling themselves, excellent sound design, and some impressive enemy AI with the Helgast flanking you and communicating with each other. Killzone 2 also has one of my favorite weapons in a game this year: the VC5 Electricity Gun. Shocking!

  ---

  Number 3: BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger

  

  2009 was a big year for fighting games; Street Fighter IV, BlazBlue, Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, Tekken 6, and a number of others. Within this single genre was tough competition, but BlazBlue comes out on top of all of them this year for a number of reasons. It's smooth online play, tight cast of uniquely playing characters, beautiful 2D art, and tight gameplay engine help it stand out among the rest.

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  Number 2: Metroid Prime Trilogy

  

  The original Metroid Prime alone makes this package worth it, let alone have all three Metroid Prime games playable. Even better is that the first two games have been retrofitted with the great Wii controls of MP3. There's a reason Prime 1 is still one of the highest rated games ever and Prime 3 one of the highest rated Wii games.

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  Number 1: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

  

  In all honesty, I wasn't originally going to get this game. Unlike the majority of the PS3 forum, I didn't fall in love with the original game. Fortunately, I had changed my mind about picking it up, and was greeted with a phenominal experience. Uncharted 2 epitomizes a game that ispolished to a shine. From it's superb visuals, tight pacing, likeable characters, and improved gameplay, there's not much to hate on the game. Uncharted 2 trumps it's predecessor in just about every way, and it certainly the shining gem of 2009's games.

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  Now if you'll excuse me, I've got more shoveling to do...

  --JT

  P.S. Revised favorite games list... Coming soon...

  • Posted Dec 19, 2009 6:15 pm PT
  • Category: Games
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• 11Dec 09

  Jump, Jive, and Wail

  So it's Friday night... well, actually Saturday morning here right now. I don't have anything particularly new that arrived recently to show off. In lieu of that, I've got something else that I've got but haven't shown here yet.

  I enjoy a good original sound track to any game as much as most people. However, there are a few rare exceptions of OSTs that I really like enough to import the actual CDs for. Now for the few of you who are actually interested, you may be wondering which games did I import OSTs for? Not including OSTs that I got as pack-ins with games or such, here's what I've got:

  

  Top Row: BlazBlue, Chrono Trigger, Devil May Cry 3
  Middle Row: King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match, King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match, Okami
  Bottom Row: Persona 4, Shadow Hearts II, Xenogears

  One thing I'll mention now is that BlazBlue, KOF98UM, KOF02UM, and Persona 4's OSTs I imported when they were released in Japan, which is well before the actual game being released in NA (note: KOF02UM actually hasn't been released in NA yet). The rest I pickedup after playing through their respective games and loving them. All of them are 2 discs except for DMC3 (3 discs)and Okami (5 discs). Actually, I want to highlight the Okami one as it's got some awesome packaging:

  

  Each of the five discs is decorated with images of the various characters you meet throughout the game. The slipcase that holds the discs is decorated with images of Amaterasu and the various brush gods.

  So yea, this is my small collection of video game OSTs that I personally felt were worth actually purchasing. Say what you will.

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  Games-wise, I'm done with new games for the year. I've played basically every game I wanted to play this year, and played a few I wasn't planning on playing anyway. It's about time to actually go back and replay some of my favorite ones, but before that I need to consider my top 5 picks for the year. I'll leave you guessing for now on what those choices are, but as a frame of reference here are my lists for the last two years (both amazing years):

  Top 5 of 2007*(edited, I forgot one exceptional game that came out this year):
  1. Bioshock
  2. Super Mario Galaxy
  3. The Orange Box
  4. Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare
  5. Rock Band

  Top 5 of 2008:
  1. Metal Gear Solid 4
  2. Valkyria Chronicles
  3. Dead Space
  4. Persona 4
  5. Rock Band 2

  What will be this year's picks? Who knows. Overall, it's been a pretty solid year in games. In my opinion, not quite as incredible as 2007 or 2008, but overall good.

  Along with the year's end stuff, I figure it's about time to revise my list of favorite games of all time. I'm not sure how many of you have actually seen my original list. Either way, there's a lot for me to consider now. The list may see some significant changes, or might just stay the same. It can go either way at this point.

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  Moving on, as some of you know I've been on a bit of an old school gaming kick lately. In the past week, I've played and beaten Super Metroid (time: 5:25 with 78% items), Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (every item except for one heart piece), and Super Castlevania IV. I mentioned last time I never played Castlevania IV; man that game was fun. So fun in fact upon landing the killing blow on Dracula, the first thing I did was teabag him. C-lassy? Not at all. Satisfying? @#$% yes. He deserved it for being an ass.

  On a final note, is anyone else excited as I am about the announcement of Mega Man 10?

  --JT

  • Posted Dec 11, 2009 10:06 pm PT
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• 4Dec 09

  Just Arrived 12-4-09: Old School Edition

  Ever since grabbing my old consoles from my parents' house last week and bringing them to my own home, I've been on a huge old school kick. I'd forgotten just how fun pre-3D games can be and still are. Sure, some of it is nostagia, but there's a large handful of games that I've yet to play, and getting around to playing them now makes me remember the basic simple enjoyment a "simple" game can provide on a fundamental level.

  Along with playing a bunch of older stuff, I also realized that my personal collection of games prior to the PS1 & PS2 was somewhat lacking. This was mostly because I was just a kid back then, and had to rely on family to buy games (typically only for the b-day and Christmas). I figured it's about time to round out my library a bit. Unfortunately, I only know of one games store around here that still sells anything from before the PS2/Xbox/GC generation (and even then the available selection is lacking), so my search for certain games had to resort to a mixture of that one store and online spending. Thus brings me to the main topic at hand for today, my latest acquisitions (some of which you may have know already if you see my GS feed):

  

  Top row purchased online: Double Dragon II: The Revenge (NES), Super C (NES), Super Castlevania IV (SNES), and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES).
  Bottom row purchased locally: Dr. Mario (NES), R.C. Pro-AM (NES), a Super Game Boy (plays original Game Boy games on the SNES), and Aladdin (Genesis).

  Besides the Super Game Boy which isn't a game in itself, I played through all of these when I was younger except for Castlevania. I've actually beaten half of then back then (Double Dragon, Super C, and Zelda). Upon getting them this week, I briefly played each one to make sure they still work (they do), and despite being over a decade old are still as fun to play as ever. Now this certainly isn't everything I want to add to my collection, but it's certainly a good start. I'll definitely be busy for awhile replaying some things.

  I didn't just pick up games this week either. In addition to the above, I also picked up a couple small things:

  

  What you see here is a ten-pack of NES dust covers, a five-pack of SNES dust covers, and a spare 72-pin connector for the NES. The dust covers are pretty much self-explainatory; most used old games typically don't come with them, but I got them to help protect my games that are missing them. That and they allow my collection to look somewhat more uniform and nice on my shelf.

  As for the spare 72-pin connector, that's the actual piece that lets the NES cartridges interface with the console's motherboard. Due to Nintendo's terrible design choice for the US version of the console (you can read the details here), the connection pins bend and wear out which leads to the infamous blinking screens/power light and distorted pictures. I just did some personal surgery on mine the other day to adjust my existing pins. Now, I don't have to either A) repeatedly do silly tricks to get a game to just run properly, or B) press the cart downward into place before it'll play (which will help prolong the pins' life). Most games I can get running in 1-2 tries now. However, I know that eventually those pins will wear down completely eventually; this is why I picked up the spare.

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  Moving on, I also finally received my copy of the latest GameInformer. What the hell is so special about the latest GI? Well, it's their 200th issue, and in celebration it includes their top 200 games of all time list. However, that's not my point for bringing it up. In addition to the list, there's 8 different covers: one for each of the top 8 games in the list. Thankfully, I happened to get one of my preferred covers:

  

  Yay, Metroid. Such an amazing c-lassic. Other covers that I wouldn't have mind getting were the Half-Life 2 cover and the Final Fantasy VI/III cover. You can check out all 8 of the available covers here.

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  Capping off what's already getting to be a lengthy piece of blog, a short update on what I've been playing lately (aside from legacy stuff). I finished Modern Warfare 2's campaign on Hardened, able to reach Chapter 3 of Ikaruga, and have barely made progress in New Mario Bros Wii. Aside from Ikaruga (which is an amazing shoot-em-up that I can't get enough of), I'm not going to comment else onthe other gamesyet since right now I don't really have many "kind" things to say about them to say the least. Don't want to sour what's already a generally positive blog.

  So what's on the playlist for the weekend? Basically replaying most of the games above. Curse my love of most genres of games preventing me from maintaining my skill in higher maintenance games (notably Garou and BlazBlue). So what are you guys playing this weekend?

  --JT

  • Posted Dec 4, 2009 3:52 pm PT
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