8/27/06
After playing it for a couple of days, I can understand why my friends recommended Dance Dance Revolution Extreme to me. It's an all-around better game than DDRMAX... the videos in the background are no longer restricted to simple animations, and the arrows better match up with the music, making the gameplay more user-friendly and immersive.
While I'm on the subject of the soundtrack, I noticed a lot more variety in the game's selection of songs. You've got everything from the traditional fast-paced techno players have come to expect from the series to 80's pop, sometimes performed by the original artists!
This is where the game hits its first snag. You'd think that you could do no wrong with music from such 80's icons as the Pet Shop Boys and Kim Wilde, but the sad fact is that the songs just aren't as fun to dance to as music especially designed for DDR. Older songs modified for the series work pretty well too, like the infectious techno remix of The Neverending Story. Yeah, that corny kids' film with all the stop-motion animation. Never fear, though... there are no covers of songs from Mac 'n Me!
One of the reasons I purchased Dance Dance Revolution Extreme is because I was assured that it was easier to play than the punishing DDRMAX. After spending a few hours with it, I'm convinced that this is only half true. The game's more natural rhythm make your dance steps flow more freely than they had in DDRMAX, but at the same time, the arrows are more plentiful, forcing you to constantly stay on the move to keep your meter out of the red. The end result is higher scores, but a more strenuous workout... which is why I suppose I started playing the game in the first place!
So hey, there's a new review on the site. Believe it or not, they're still making light gun games... it's just a lot harder to get them started these days. Hopefully that'll change once the Wii arrives, but in the meantime, here's Time Crisis 3!
8/25/06
Whoo, that was more than a little embarassing. The Konami Calorie Crunch was always skating on the thin ice of copyright infringement, but it took two weeks and a friendly nudge from a reader before I realized that the initials of my self-improvement project sounded a lot like a previously existing organization. You might have heard of them... they're well-known as pioneers in the fields of inbreeding, arson, and wearing stupid-looking hats.
I've addressed the issue with a name change. The new title has all the DDR-riffic alliteration of the original, without unpleasant similarities to the bitter residue left behind after Abe Lincoln scrubbed the country clean of the Confederacy. I can offend my readers just fine without any help, thank you very much!
Just one more thing before I go. Well, actually, it's two things... namely, Summon Night for the Game Boy Advance and a new Dance Dance Revolution title for the Playstation 2. Summon Night is a Japanese action-RPG with way too much RPG and not nearly enough action. Really, do we need all this exposition before the game actually begins? Sure, the writing is pretty clever (an Atlus trademark!) but it's hard to sit through it when it's accompanied by a grating 8-bit quality soundtrack.
I haven't had the chance to step up to Dance Dance Revolution Extreme, but I look forward to the opportunity. I've been told by friends that the game shows more mercy to newbies than DDRMAX, and the addition of EyeToy enhancements might just give me an excuse to dig the crusty old camera out of the box of forgotten game peripherals.
8/23/06
Stephanie Labrunie has given me yet another reason to hate cell phone gaming. In a recent interview, the representative from cell phone game developer I-play crowed that video games for cellular phones would outsell traditional console games this year. That wouldn't be too hard, considering that your average (actually, well below average) cell phone title sells for a tenth of the price of a REAL video game.
Steffie added salt to the wound by claiming that console gaming is just a niche market, and that cell phone games are intended for a more mainstream audience. This could just be my bias talking, but since when is a multi-billion dollar industry a "niche" market? Electronic Arts alone has grown so enormous that even Viacom, a major player in the entertainment industry and the owner of at least a dozen television networks, couldn't afford to buy it... and that was BEFORE EA's acquisition of JamDat!
Besides, even if cell phones are destined to become a mainstream market for video games, it's still not the ideal way to play them. The cell phone market is frustratingly fragmented... even if you do find a game you like, there's a strong chance that you either won't be able to play it on your phone model, or that your service carrier won't offer it. If you manage to clear all these hurdles, you'll still have to deal with a tiny screen, a cramped keypad, and hardware that's overshadowed by dedicated video game technology.
In my humble opinion, cell phone "games" are just bling. They're only marginally more entertaining than wallpapers and ringtones, and not even as practical. They're just there to show off to your friends... to remind them of how far technology has advanced since the days when they had to walk three miles to an arcade (in the snow, uphill both ways) to play Burgertime or The King of Fighters. Even more advanced cell phone titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones are short, simple, and ultimately unsatisfying... no match for similar releases on the DS or even the aging Game Boy Advance.
So hey, maybe Steffie is right. Maybe you'll look more cool when you play primitive pseudo-games on your cell phone... if you can keep yourself from screaming at the screen when your microscopic hero falls off a cliff for the thirty-sixth time, anyway. However, once you compare the experience to playing games on systems designed especially for them, you're sure to agree that it's hip to be square, as well as a lot more fun!
8/19/06
This version of Dance Dance Revolution may just work out for my workouts after all! I just discovered the training mode (not to be confused with the tutorial mode), and it makes the game a lot more forgiving, as well as surprisingly customizable. By slowing down the music, I was able to clean up on tracks that had once put me through the ringer.
Sure, all the perky female singers transform into Cher and Grace Jones, but it's nevertheless worth shifting the game into second gear. Before, the tracks were either too laid back or impossible to finish, but for the first time ever, I felt like I was getting an honest workout from Dance Dance Revolution. I'm just as happy that I can finally enjoy more than a small handful of tracks.
Now onto the latest gaming news!
Uh, wait. WHAT gaming news? Nintendo still refuses to reveal the price of the Wii, the Playstation 3 controller still isn't finished, and PCs burst into flames if you even TRY to play video games on them. That just leaves Microsoft's Xbox 360, and my attempts to build an suitable arcade controller for it. The first time I took a crack at this, I made a joystick with leftover parts and a third-party pad. That... didn't work out as well as I hoped.
It'll only take a few spare microswitches to get the stick up to speed, but I'd be happier with a Sega Arcade Pad. I started work on one earlier today, but found that this conversion demands a great deal more precision than the last one. You've working with smaller components, and it's tough to set up the wires without them getting in the way of the contacts. And oh yeah, you've got to remove the IC from the Sega Arcade Pad... fail to do so and you're likely to blow out a circuit on the host controller. Believe me, I know!
I also know that this won't be easy, but in the end, I think it'll be worth the effort and expense. Besides, have you seen the alternative? I'll take a homemade pad over that thing any day!
8/16/06
I haven't posted an update for a few days, but I haven't missed a step with Dance Dance Revolution!
I just wish the game wouldn't step all over me. I could only complete around six of the game's forty-odd songs... even in the so-called "Light" mode, the rest of the tracks flood the screen with arrows, making it impossible for me to keep up with the frantic action.
I complained about this to a friend who's spent countless hours with the Dance Dance Revolution series, and he explained to me that DDRMAX wasn't an ideal game for newcomers. I can believe it... the damn game is ruthless!
I'll have to track down a less demanding version of the game; possibly 2nd Mix for the Dreamcast. Sure, it doesn't look any better than the DDR games released for the original Playstation, but dude, it's on the DREAMCAST! I just can't pass up an opportunity to get some use out of my favorite ill-fated game console, even if that means turning it into a yellowing, dust-covered Richard Simmons.
All right, now that the Dance Dance Revolution rambling out of the way, it's time for the good stuff. Like poker? Want to save yourself ten dollars? Then I suggest that you log onto Xbox Live sometime today and download Texas Hold 'Em. The game will be available to ALL Xbox Live subscribers for the unbeatable price of free-ninety-free. I never hopped aboard the tournament poker craze, getting the itch for card games out of my system at an early age, but this is a deal even I can't pass up!
8/13/06
It's the second day of the Konami Kalorie Krunch, and according to the workout mode, I burned a whopping twenty-two calories in today's session. Wait, what? That can't be right! I played through four songs, and I only burned enough calories to take two Lifesavers off my waist? But I thought it only took a hearty laugh to burn through three calories! Family Matters told me so, and my favorite schmaltzy sitcom from the early 90's has never lied to me before! Oh Steve Urkel, why have you forsaken me?!Oh well, it wasn't a complete waste of time. I'm finding more and more things to like about Dance Dance Revolution... at this rate, it'll probably be the first game since Tony Hawk's Pro Skater that will convince me to master a new, unfamiliar style of gameplay to squeeze the most enjoyment out of it. That's why the Konami Kalorie Krunch will kontinue... even if I'm not actually losing any calories.
But of course, man cannot live on brightly colored dance mats alone. What else have I been playing lately? Well, between DDR sessions, my time has been evenly split between the frantic puzzle action of Bombastic and the demos recently released for the Xbox 360. Bombastic is the sequel to the Playstation game Devil Dice, which started its life as a homebrew game created with the Yaroze development system. Sony was so impressed with Devil Dice that they released it as an official Playstation title.
After spending some quality time with Bombastic, I can see why. Actually, the game isn't all that appealing when you're playing it in the original Xi (Devil Dice) mode, where the dice simply melt into the ground after you've matched them. No, it's only when the dice are packed with explosives that things really get exciting.
As a chubby harlequin with horns, you've got to not only roll dice together to match the numbers on their faces, but steer clear of the matches you've already made. In a tip of the hat to Bomberman, matched dice grow hot and explode, shooting flames in four directions. Any like-numbered dice in the path of the explosion will also catch fire, opening the door to magnificent chain reactions!
It takes a while to get the hang of Bombastic, but there's little confusion in Xbox 360 games like Ninety-Nine Nights and Dead Rising. Button-mashing genocide is the order of the day in both games, but Dead Rising comes out on top with a more open, varied, and interactive environment. Why run through an endless stretch of hilly terrain when you can slaughter zombies in a vast mall, using such unlikely weapons as electric guitars and bowling balls?
8/12/06
It's funny... in April, I was chomping at the bit to finish my classes, but now I'm just as eager to get out of the house and go back to college. A summer of inactivity has left me soft, flabby, and in desperate need for a way to shape up. With no interest in traditional sports, I only had one option to keep my waistline in check.
If I wanted to stop myself from reaching the danger zone of morbid obesity-- the point where I couldn't look at myself in the bathroom mirror without protective eyewear-- I had to hit the dance floor. Or more accurately, the dance pad that's seen even less action that I have in the past three months.
I've never been what you'd call a Dance Dance Revolution expert... heck, it was a struggle for me to get through the training mode when I first bought the game last summer! However, I'm willing to learn the ropes if I can drop a few pounds in the process. Over the next month, I vow to give my long neglected pad as well as myself a workout, playing thirty minutes of Dance Dance Revolution MAX each day.
Today, I went back to the training mode to give myself a refresher course in all things DDR. I was astonished at just how deep the game's play mechanics really are... it's easy to convince yourself from watching other players that Dance Dance Revolution is just a bunch of random arrow stomping, but the tutorial makes it clear that it takes rythym, coordination, and even strategy to succeed. Sure, you can just flatten the arrows as they hit the top of the screen, but if you don't want to trip over yourself, you'll have to set your feet on the mat in anticipation of the arrows on the bottom.
I started playing Dance Dance Revolution again out of necessity. However, with some practice and persistence, I may stop looking at it as part of an important exercise regimen and start looking forward to the experience as a fun way to pass the time.
8/09/06
I've been waiting eighteen years for this news! Looks like Lieber-dweeb just squeezed his last drop of Joe-mentum out of demonizing the video game industry. He's vowed to run as an independent, but few politicians are ever successful without first pledging their alliegiance to either the Democrats (which Joseph Lieberman claims to be) or the Republicans (which Joe actually is).
On top of that, former president Bill Clinton has vowed that he would throw his support behind Connecticut primary winner Ned Lamont if Lieberman runs as an independent. Voters are getting awfully nostalgic for the days when gas prices were affordable and the country wasn't being run by a self-centered, war-crazed, poop-flinging monkey. If Ned Lamont can strengthen his ties to Clinton, and if Lieberman can't shake his own association with the worst president of the 21st century, the only house Joe will be elected to is the Sterling Glen retirement home!
With that floppy-faced, moralizing, thoroughly incompetent dumbass out of office, and Jack Thompson thoroughly discredited, it looks like gamers will have a great year ahead of them... as long as Rockstar doesn't toe the line of good taste and flare the temper of some other desperate politician hunting for easy political prey.
Off that subject, I spent the better part of Monday on a project I found on the Gamers' Reports web site. When you've just downloaded Street Fighter II: Hyper Edition for your Xbox 360 and you're in need of a joystick, you're willing to do just about anything, including this:
What you see here are the internals of a Pelican Real Arcade joystick, along with the circuit board of a cheap MadCatz controller. After hours of careful soldering, I was able to marry these two components, transforming them into a functional Xbox 360 joystick.
The finished product isn't perfect... the guide button doesn't work, and I couldn't figure out a way to connect the analog triggers to the joystick's two remaining buttons. Also, I cut a few corners while making the stick...I probably could have fed the microphone port into the slot you see on the right, originally intended for Xbox memory cards. Instead, I just glued it down to hold the circuit board in place, figuring that I could use a headset on my wireless controller if I felt the need for it.
Despite all that, the Frankenstick works pretty well... it may be pieced together from spare parts, but when you set it on your lap and play a few games with it, it certainly doesn't FEEL that way. The controller is acceptable for a couple of rounds of Street Fighter II, although a Sega Saturn pad and its superior diagonal response would be much better suited for this purpose (a converter is in the works, but it isn't yet available to the public).
However, the custom-made joystick really earns its keep in older arcade games like Joust, Galaga, and Robotron: 2084. It's actually got me thinking about purchasing the full version of Galaga from Xbox Live Marketplace, even though I can't count the number of times I've already bought that game for other systems!
If you already read about this mod and had your doubts about it, I can tell you from personal experience that it really does work. If you've got an acute fear of soldering and enough money for the official Dead or Alive 4 stick, you're probably better off buying that instead. However, if you're handy with an iron and have the time and discarded joysticks to spare, you really ought to give this a try. It was almost as fun building the Frankenstick as it is to use it!
8/04/06
I'm rethinking this whole talkcast business. That's not to say that I won't offer some kind of audio commentary in the future, but a spoken transcript of the latest update doesn't seem to be much of a draw. Someone on the forum suggested audio reviews instead, and it's an idea that's worth considering.
Speaking of reviews, there's a new one on the Blitz! It's strictly old school, written in text rather than spoken out loud, but I have a feeling you'll enjoy it all the same. I've also updated the recommended lists of both the Playstation 2 and its kid brother, the PSP. If you're looking for something to rent for either system over the weekend, I'd suggest you give those sections of the Sony page a look.
