That's right, for all the Tales loving fans out there, one of the best games in the series is being remade for the Playstation 3. It was both confirmed at the Tales Festival and to be localized in the West! That means we will have an opportunity to play this great game again in HD with the added bonus of Dawn of the New World. This is great news for new fans to the series and to those that never had the chance play this spectacular game. I can't tell you how excited I am, even if it's a remake of two classic games.
The release of this remastered game tells me two things. First, it tells me that Namco Bandai actually cares about their fans in the West and listens to us in generally. They realize that people over here actually enjoy playing there fantastic games and that makes them willing to localize it for us. Two, it tells me that the fan base for the Tales games are continuously growing in the western world. It really should be no surprise since the popularity of videogames has exploded--it still begs the question why it still is a stigma to many--and more and more people are playing them. Despite how niche the rpg genre is in generally, it still has a huge following of loyal fans willing and ready to play and even Namco Bandai knows that they should capitalize on the situation.
I really am excited for this game though. It's been too long since I have had the chance to play Tales of Symphonia and I will finally get the chance to try Dawn of the New World. For newcomers to the Tales series, not many make it out here, so it's kind of a big deal. After the break, you can find the trailer for this game.
My name is Tom Butto, and this is my first post on this blog. Matt has
been kind enough to let me contribute, and I thank him for how wonderful
of a person he is on a daily basis. Matt and I have been friends since
high school, and we have many things in common. We both like sports,
trolling, drinking beer, and of course, video games. You put the both of
us in front of a video game we both like, and we will play that game
for hours upon hours without stopping. That’s how we are; we are bingers,
especially when it comes to video games. We love video games, we love to
play video games, we love to beat each other in Madden or The Show, we
have been playing the same Madden franchise in Madden 2011, and during
the Halo 3 days, we loved to jump in a Hog and trash talk people while
mowing them down with machine gun bullets and some sweet driving. I have
never had a problem with video games, or the video game industry, until
now.
I have a problem because the video game industry is killing itself.
Facebook, mobile phone games, free-to-play are threatening the industry
because they are as popular as ever, and yet the video game industry and
the companies who make the console, I’m looking at Microsoft, seem like
they are trying to distance themselves from their consumers. They are
becoming greedier as the years go on, and seemingly keep shooting
themselves in the foot. With the announcement of the new Xbox One, this
was the final straw for me. The system has to be connected to the
Internet at all times? Game prices are going to go up? If you borrow a
game from a friend, it will cost you five dollars? This is all
ridiculous. They want people to only buy new games, and subscribe to
Xbox Live, which costs people more money. Either these people who came
up with all these ideas for the new Xbox are so disillusioned and
detached from society because of how successful the Xbox 360 was, or
they simply don’t care. Last time I checked, people are still struggling
to make ends meet. People do not have money to have subscriptions to
Xbox Live, and pay 70 or 80 dollars for a video game.
Add this to
downloadable content getting more and more ridiculous, and I want the
video game industry to fail. I want people to stop buying video games
and consoles when the new generation of systems comes out. Or at the
very least, people stop buying the Xbox One, because the PlayStation 4
seems fine from what I have heard. Maybe if people go on a little
unofficial boycott, the suits at these companies will have to change
some ideas and actually look like they care about their customers.
Because at this rate, you will have to pay an entry fee to get into a
video game store, and have to put a strand of your hair in your console
so they know your DNA and where you are at all times. Maybe if the
industry collapses on itself, real, innovative ideas will come to the
forefront. Until then, I will be content playing my Xbox 360, working on
the fifth or sixth season of our Madden franchise.
It's been another slow day in the videogame world. There hasn't been much reported and that's all due to the upcoming E3 event. I think by now that everyone is aware that Nintendo will be holding demo events in various BestBuys. The Vita will have a big showcase for us too. I am sure much more will be revealed about the new PlayStation and Xbox systems.
If you are wondering what I am currently playing, it's a charming game called No noKuni. For anyone that hasn't had the opportunity to play it, it's a JRPG about whimsical adventures and saving stuff. It's like a cross of Narniaand SpiritedAwaywith a blend of some worldly concepts.
As I wait for this rain delay to be over for the Mets vs. Yankees game, I find myself surfing the web for new videogame news. Well, it's slow out there and probably due to the E3 show coming soon in June.
It seems like this E3 will be a big show case for the PlayStation Vita. It's about time the system started picking up the pace. The lack of games that I haven't beaten is killing me. I am sureDragon'sCrownwill have some play time. I also read Koei will be show casing two games that will get a Western release, nice!
Anyway, it's a slow blog day for me--yesterday too--and I don't have much more to share that you probably haven't already read. Back the Mets andNinoKuni.
Persona 4: Arena picks up where Persona 4 left off. I am not going to spoil the story so I will stop there. That being said, I had the opportunity to try this fighter out for an hour thanks to being a Playstation Plus member. I have always been a quiet fan of fighting games that weren't Tekken and I figured it would be a good chance to try out the game. I have to say for the hour I was able to play, it was a lot of fun. It's not as complicated as say BlazBlue where I needed to study a textbook to understand all them mechanics of the game, but it also left me with the impression that I still needed to know what I was doing beyond button mashing. It's an easy pick-up and the game doesn't seem to have a steep learning curve to be able play competitively.
The time I spent playing this fighter was in the Arcade Mode. There, I chose the main protagonist--Yu Narukami--from the 13 playable characters, and battled my way up to the final boss. There were many wins and few loses, but I would be lying if I said many of the matches did not present me with a decent challenge. It was fast, flashy fighting with fantastic artwork that made me sweat when my health was pretty low. It actually felt good to beat this game with one of the characters. Plus, there's even a decent story involved in this game to continue the story from both Persona 4 and Persona 3. I won't delve further into that in case some of you never played either one.
For how cheap this game is, it's a definite pick up for your collection. It's fun, fast, and can bring you hours of play. It may not be as complex and competitive as BlazBlue or Tekken, but it's still fun and worth your time.
After reading a great article on ZeldaDungeon.net, I began to think what are some of my favorite videogame moments. I have to agree with the writer that one of the best moments is the whole beginning of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, but there are obviously more great moments in videogame history. I had to sit and think for awhile what were my favorite moments in any particular game. There are just so many that I didn't even know where to begin. I figured the best course of action is to break these moments into parts periodically as I blog. In order to keep with the spirit of the article, I chose the ending for Link's Awakening DX. If you are wondering why I chose the DX version, it's simply due to the fact that the game was remade into color. I need no reasoning behind it.
Link's Awakening's ending is one of the greatest endings to any Zelda game I have ever played. The whole time you were just in the Wind Fish's dreams and that none of the people you encountered were real but you. That's right, they were all made up to help you on your journey to defeat the evil inside the Wind Fish. That means Marin, the owl, and all the other things on Koholint were just illusions. Does that mean that every relationship Link encountered was not real? Is this story trying to tell us that everything disappears and is only a fleeting memory?
What really makes this ending one of the best videogame moments in history has Link looking onto the horizon knowing those bonds that were created were real, even if they were short lived. Just because everyone and everything vanished does not mean that the feelings weren't real. As Link continues on his journey, this will always be real for him.
What really killed me is the part after "the end" appears. After these words scroll onto the screen, a seagull appears. So what? Well, one of the biggest things in this game was Marin wishing that she could travel like a seagull or be a seagull--it's been almost 20 years since I completed the game--and it seems her wish came true.
Anyway, after the break, the ending will be in a video so you can either relive or see for the first time this magnificent ending.
It's Monday and I am back from Ocean City, Maryland. It's been over a week since I have had a chance to blog about one of my favorite things, videogames. I thought, what better way to kick back into this blog then to write about some kick ass songs in videogames? Let's be honest, videogames have some of the best music out there. Heck, some songs top charts all the time. For this piece, I am only going with music that plays during the actual game. So here are 5 of the many that I personally enjoy and I hope you enjoy as well!
5. Tales of Symphonia - Fighting of the Spirit
When this Tales game came out on the GameCube in the early 2000's, it was ambitious and awesome. How do you compliment ambitious and awesome? You do so by adding a soundtrack to compliment such greatness. If any Tales song stands the test of time or more beloved, it's this one. Just go look up all the remixes and covers of this song if you don't believe me. This theme originally appeared in Tales of Phantasia and since its debut, has been arranged for other games in the series. It really captures the essence of what an RPG's sound track should include. I posted the best version of this song below, enjoy.
4. Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow - Battle Theme
Everyone who had a childhood can hum this tune on a whim. This theme would play anytime you encountered a trainer ready to be clobbered by your insanely powerful Farfetch'd or Mewtwo. These trainers had no idea what you were about to throw at them, but by god, you would sweep them with water gun.
3. Final Fantasy VII - Battle Theme
If there was any game that people cream over like bacon, it's Final Fantasy VII. I do admit that this is my favorite battle theme in any of the Final Fantasy games. It really works on building up a climax and really pumping the adrenaline while killing cacti people and other weird monsters. I decided to post a video below that really demonstrates what a few guitars with videogame music can do, especially with a theme as awesome as this.
2. Halo Theme
Nothing gets you driving more reckless then blasting the Halo theme down the highway. You know it's time to man your make believe gunner's turret when this song starts playing and your friend is swerving out of the way of a newb pistol shot. This song really should have been looped during any match that had any multi-man vehicles in it and an open world to boot, like Valhalla.
1. Guilty Gear X2 - Holy Orders
Yes, this is my number one kick ass song for this post. You don't even know the magnitude of this on a Richter scale. That's all I need to say about this epic tune.
