A Blog-worthy series of events

On the day where I was thinking about writing a blog entry and wondering what I was gonna rant about, the actual trip from work to home ended up throwing a bunch of note-worthy events my way. For starters, as I was walking in the subway station near my work, a beggar asked me for some change. Faithful to my pre-established strategy on dealing with beggars, I offered to buy him a subway ticket. He seemed quite cheerful when I mentioned this, and I was convinced I had found yet another honest beggar. However, in true idiot-beggar fashion, the guy ruined it all: as I was waiting in line to buy him a ticket, he said "Would it be too much if I asked you for a buck or two for some coffee?" to which I responded "Yes. Yes it would be. And you know what else? You just lost your ticket." The rest of the conversation is irrelevant, but suffice it to say that changing your story on me is an automatic failure. Do not pass Go. Do not collect 200$.

On the actual subway, I bumped into an old high school buddy of mine (Henri, for the reader whom I know as fact knows who Henri is). The wagon was jam packed, so we joked around a bit ("I feel VERY close to you right now!" "I could HUG you!") before catching up and letting each other know what we were up to.

Afterwards, as I was getting on the bus, I sat down and broke out my DS. I felt like beating the boss I was at in my Sonic Rush game. I hadn't even loaded my game yet when I noticed that the guy sitting right in front of me was plugging his earphones into his PSP. I found it quite comical to see two random strangers pulling off the exact same routine at the same time, right next to each other with two competing handhelds. I really felt like "letting him in on the joke", but I couldn't figure out a way to do so without looking totally geeky so I let it go.

I DID overhear the two friends sitting behind me talking about me as I was playing my DS. I just let them talk as if I couldn't hear them. I LOVE keeping my earphones on at all times like that. It lets me phase out of, or into any conversation at my leisure. It made for a pretty entertaining ride to be enjoying some digital entertainment while two strangers were saying things like "What's he playing?" "He's playing Sonic" "I dunno I want a PSP" (I don't think they noticed the guy in front of me) "Those games are too kiddy for me". I could talk for hours on the notion of kiddy games, but that is best saved for another rant. Maybe.

Dual Strike ROCKS.

I made afew video game purchases a couple weeks ago. One of those purchases was Advance Wars: Dual Strike for the Nintendo DS. I played the original Advance Wars on the GBA a couple years ago and was enchanted. I liked it so much I'm surprised I never played the sequel. The story that wraps this brilliant turn-based strategy game is entertaining enough to keep you going. The characters are likeable, no matter what side of the conflict they're on. I'm lucky that the plot in Advance Wars is relatively un-important, because Dual Strike clearly builds on the story of the second chapter.

As good as Advance Wars was as a GBA game, I am quite impressed with the manner in which the DS' unique features are integrated into the gameplay. The main thing that's missing is some sort of voice activated feature, but then again, maybe it IS there and I haven't unlocked it yet. I didn't even read the Gamespot preview I linked before buying this game. I knew it would be a sure hit. Waging war on two simultaneous fronts adds a nice amount of depth to the strategies you can use, and even when the battle is all on the same map, you have access to two Commanding Officers (COs) that you can use at the same time. When both of their power meters are fully charged, you get to move twice in a row, and each CO uses his/her super power before moving.

I am so addicted to this game that I'd name it as a sure bet for "next game I'll actually finish" if it wasn't for Shadow of the Colossus. I've killed 12 colossi and I know how to climb onto number 13. As compatible as handheld gaming is to my lifestyle, I'm aware that I just don't have alot of time left before I finish SotC. We'll see which game reaches the finish line first.

Sequelitis strikes again!

If you took a look at what the main complaints are from gamers regarding the videogame industry, I'd say an easy, obvious candidate for the top 3 would be sequelitis. That problem is a symptom of other problems within the industry, but lets forget about the others and focus on this. It's no secret that alot of the popular games out there are sequels to already established gaming franchises. That's not necessarily a bad thing (depends alot on whether or not you're a fan of a given series), but it makes it easy for gamers to complain about "lack of originality" in the gaming industry.

If you look at all the games that came out last year, Katamari Damacy stood out as a truly unique and original game. Alot of the things that made the game fun had to do with what made it stand out as its own experience too. The music, the simplistic controls, the overall presentation, it all combined to make a game that felt like a breath of fresh air. Of course, being fond of Japanese culture obviously helps one appreciate the game more.

I bought We Love Katamari afew weeks ago. It's definitely a great game, but it got me thinking as early as when the game was announced, "How many Katamari sequels would it take before teenage gamers started whining about the series getting stale?" So far I have to say Namco's done a fine job of adding some fresh new ideas that will add variety to all the things you've done in Katamari Damacy, but still remain faithful to the Katamari way. My favorite stage so far is Katamari racing. By the end of the race, you're the only one left on the track. :oD

The story of the Katamari games reveal an intrinsic problem that will always be a part of the game industry/game consumer relationship: No matter how loud gamers scream for innovative new ideas, they'll never escape the woes of sequelitis, because even the new ideas will themselves generate sequels if they work. This isn't a good thing, nor a bad thing. It's just a part of being somehow related to the field of electronic entertainment. This only applies to the kinds of games that are typically found in retail stores. Online games are another issue.