Top 10 games of 2008

So 2008 is done and its been over a month for me to try out some games and all. So what did I find? 2008 has been one blast of a year for video games with major long-awaited titles being released such as Fallout 3, Fable II, Grand Theft Auto IV, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It really makes me wonder how 2009 will top this but we shall see!

So here are my top 10 of 2008. Yes I am missing quite a few games that should make it but I didn't have enough time to get around to playing them as now I work so my summer holidays was pretty much cut short.

10. Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit (Dimps/Atari | PS2, 360)

Ah Dragon Ball, you guys never fail at releasing minimum one game a year and as most of the other fighters, its a good one! However this game goes back to the good'ol Budokai days and throwing out the Tenkaichi fighting mechanics for the more traditional ways for its exclusive next-gen debut! Character roster is lacking but the ones that were included are animated so nicely and precise its like watching the anime in HD! The voice-actors from both the English and Japanese camps return to voice their characters and sounds surprisingly good no matter which language option you pick! The DBZ game for everyone! Much better than the PS2's crap DBZ swansong Infinite Worlds.

9. Guitar Hero: World Tour (Neversoft/Activision | Wii, PS2, PS3, 360)

So how do you get back at your former employees for joining a rival company? Show them that you don't need them and that you can do it better! So thats prety much the skinny on what happened when Harmonix jumped ship to EA to create Rock Band that adds drum and voice-play into the foray! Activision decided to copy and included those things as well but wasn't as successful huh. But I still enjoyed the guitar aspect of the game as it should be... its not called Guitar Hero for no reason -.-

8. Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (Capcom/Nintendo | NDS)

A new chapter in the Ace Attorney series and it was a good one! While not as challenging as the previous three, it was still as fun to play and also to tie up some loose ends the original trilogy left behind. Not much I can say that won't ruin the story... this game was built from the ground up to ultilise the DS' features unlike the previous three (excluding the last episode of the first game) so now you know you paying top price for new game and not lazy ports so everyone please give it a go :)

7. Soulcalibur IV (Namco | PS3, 360)

While some of the costumes in this game scared me, this is a very good fighting game that totally kicks Soulcalibur III's arse. This time round the character customisations are done a lot better, no lag and online play! Theres also a way to penalise guard-happy players which is a nice touch from the first Soul Blade game. While the inclusions of some new characters scraches my head, its still a very decent game with heaps of replayability! I really wished that Hwang was back in this game -.-

6. Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- (Square-Enix/Ubisoft | PSP)

Pretty much PSP's only blockbuster game of 2008 and what a game it is. Finally we get to see who Zack Fair is after 11 years of waiting. This game was announced when the PSP was announced so it has been a long time coming. Theres problems with the battle system but everything else is pretty much flawless from the graphics to the beautiful music. Even though we know Zack dies, it was still a treat to follow Zack around Gaia seeing him mentor Cloud Strife meeting familiar faces (Yuffie and even Vincent!) and new ones (Cissnei!!!!) until his timely death. I will miss him and it was the only video game that made tears come to my eyes, even Aeris didn't do that for me.

5. Disaster: Day of Crisis (Monolithsoft/Nintendo | Wii)

The game that America never got is one hell of a game. Blue Ridge City is being contiously bombarded with natural disasters and terrorist and its up to one man to save the day: Ray. The former Internatinoal Rescue Team member must save the city from total destruction and at the same time save his best friend's sister from the terrorist. Sounds like a movie plot eh? Well it sure plays like a movie and I wouldn't have it any other way! From the cheesy dialogue to the different types of gameplay this game has, it is always kept fresh and never takes itself seriously. Also this is like the first Nintendo-made game wheres theres swearing... now thats a treat to all fans around the world (sorry America, blame Reggie)

4. Yakuza 2 (Amusement Vision/SEGA | PS2)

This is probably the most anticipated PS2 game of my life! i first got this game in Japanese at the end of 2007 but it had no subs and being such a story-driven game... it didn't work for me... So after two years of waiting, I finally got a copy in English!!! Man this is like the best original last game for the PlayStation 2, can't think of any others! Being a two-year-old game, it still makes my list! Everything was pretty much improved over the original from the graphics, music and even to the gameplay! The camera in the original really was annoying but they fixed it in this one and the leveling up system is made easier and more diverse! Oh and the cut-scenes are superbly shot just like the movies, very nice. If you are stuck in last-gen and love Japanese culture, give this a go guys,

3. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Sora/Nintendo | Wii)

Heres the next part in the every-nintendo-fans'-wetdream series. Having to endure many years of delay, Brawl has finally appeared on the Wii. With brand new characters, stages, customisations, online play, stage sharing and many more things, this game is a dream. Also included are Solid Snake and Sonic the Hedgehog to fight against their Nintendo rivals. While everything seems cool, there are some flaws like some characters being WAY overpowered, some even became much weaker and the fact the game only plays well with a GameCube controller that are so hard to find outside of Japan and Nintendo Australia doesn't seem to want to fix it... idiots. All and all, brilliant game that I can see myself playing till the end of the Wii's lifespan.

2. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo | Wii)

So why is this game on top of Super Smash Bros. Brawl? Quite simply cause this was way more fun for me. No other console game had me eating dinner with one hand and playing with the other thanks to the Wii Wheel :p This game also included the best online play I've ever played. There was virtually no lag and you could play co-op as well! Compared to other home online games with fast paced action, Mario Kart Wii takes the top, it was THAT good. So good that I bought four copies of it :)

1. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Kojima Productions/Konami| PS3)

Now while I had a way more fun experience with some of the other games in this list, this game here is technically flawless in everyway possible. The gameplay doesn't fight with you, the controller becomes like a part of ya hands as you move around in the beautiful environment and pulsing at every enemy so they don't spot you. What is flawed is the long as cut-scenes, while I still enjoyed but I can see why the majority of people disliked. Coming packaged with this final game is Metal Gear Online to allow players to verse eachother to see who is a better Foxhound so thats a pretty good deal there too. So after six canonical games, what does happen to Solid Snake? We all know he grows older but what is to become of him? Well the only way to find out is to catch this on a PS3 cause Konami and Kojima Productions has no plans at all to bring this elsewhere!


Now thats a lot of writing I did and I know some people won't agree with it or not at all. So I'll list some of the games that didn't make it but was still enjoyable for me:

Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen
Prince of Persia
Mirror's Edge
Call of Duty: World at War
Red Alert 3
No More Heroes
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Sonic Unleashed
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
Lock's Quest
littleBIGplanet
Grand Theft Auto IV
God of War: Chains of Olympus
Pro Evolution Soccer 2009

Having such a blast of a year, makes me wonder how 2009 will fair. It has however brought out the RPG classic Chrono Trigger and probably the most anticipated follow-up fighting game of all time Street Fighter IV is just around the corner so it shouldn't be too bad. I am looking forward to these following games:

Dragon Quest IX
Street Fighter IV
Tekken 6
Killzone 2
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
House of the Dead OVERKILL
Madworld
Tales of Vesperia
Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games
DJ Max Fever
Star Ocean: The Last Hope
Resident Evil 5
Resistance: Retribution
The Conduit
Bayonetta
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Have a good one guys and keep gaming :)

Too Many

Wow dudes, I've been getting way too many new games than I can handle and some aren't even opened yet! Still freshly sealed. People have been questioning me why I buy so many than I can play... well I can play them and will finish the interesting ones but they're all so cheap for new release games. I'm getting them at an average of $40 each when each of these console games RRP $100+.

So right now I have these games that are still sealed and waiting for me to play them:
Animal Crossing: Let's go to the City (Wii)
Call of Duty: World at War (PS3)
Enchanted Arms (PS3)
God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP)
Mirror's Edge (PS3)
Prince of Persia (PS3)
Virtua Fighter 5 (PS3)

Currently working on Resistance: Fall of Man, thats a hard game and I really want to get that game out of the way first then I'll probably move onto GTAIV, well letsee how I go eh.

Tonight, Tomorrow, Quite a few

with the holidays looming and exams a thing of the past until June next year, I have taken it upon myself to finish at least ten games. Now this would be crap easy if I wasn't working but seeing as I am, my daily gaming has been cut fair short. However working brings in new income and I am now able to afford new games... go figure :p

At the moment I have only finished one, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots but am looking at trying to get around to the following in no particular order:

Burnout Paradise
Chrono Trigger
Disaster: Day of Crisis
Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World
Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen
Final Fantasy XII
Grand Theft Auto IV
Half-Life 2, Episodes 1 and 2
Kingdom Hearts II
LostWinds
Medal of Honor: Airborne
Medal of Honor Heroes 2
Medal of Honor: Vanguard
No More Heroes
Pokemon Diamond
Resistance: Fall of Man
Ridge Racer 7
Rogue Galaxy
Sonic Unleashed
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Yakuza 2

Well thats the list I can think of and I'll keep it updated with what I complete. Theres some nice DS games I should get to as well such as Castlevania, Lock's Quest and Flower, Sun and Rain.

Having Dick Smith woes

So Dick Smith Electronics are currently having a sale and gamers around Australia are raiding the place! It was quite annoying that I found out about the DSE sale on its first day as I luckily stepped into the store for no other reason to waste time. There I saw some flyers saying that it was 50% off, fair cool. So I bought a game and that night, Ecogamer, Aussie-Nintendo, Kotaku Australia were all reporting it. Haha and the next time I went, three days later, most stores were all cleaned out so I had to hop from Dick Smith to Powerhouses and so forth, fun as.

So what did I get? Here we go:

1. Dead or Alive: Xtreme 2 (360) - $5 Greensborough DSE
2. Medal of Honor: Airborne (PS3) - $27.50 Nunawading Powerhouse
   
3. Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 (Wii) - $25 Nunawading Powerhouse
4. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (PS3) - $22.50 Nunawading Powerhouse
5. Kameo: Elements of Power (360) - $14 Preston Powerhouse
6. ShadowRun (360) - $5 Greensborough DSE
7. Bully: Scholarship Edition (Wii) - $20 Preston Powerhouse
8. No More Heroes (Wii) - $30 Preston Powerhouse
9. Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions (PS3) - $20 Preston Powerhouse
10. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (PS3) - $20 Preston Powerhouse
11. The Orange Box (PS3) - $30 Highpoint Powerhouse
    
12. Medal of Honor: Vanguard (Wii) - $20 Greensborough DSE

Not a bad turnout actually though I am missing some games I really want including Bomberman Land! Wii, Ridge Racer 7, Warhawk and Blue Dragon. At least I finished up my Medal of Honor collection in one week. Also as you can see I've been buying Xbox 360 games, thats because I'll be getting a 360 soon when I see a great bundle at a great price so I'm just getting ready.

Well the sale ends tomorrow so I'll see if I have time to head to Knox City to grab that Ridge Racer 7. Oh and thanks to Ren for getting The Orange Box for me all the way at Highpoint, legendary

Mind-Boggling Realism

Now that I have a PlayStation 3, a 1080p High Definition Television, a 1.5m HDMI cable, some HD movies and six HD PS3 games, I have been playing games and watching movies outside in the lounge instead of my room. Pretty much to get the best picture and sound quality since my room is just a little CRT TV with faulty Component inlets. I am very satisfied with the PlayStation 3. While I still love my Wii for its unique games and the News and Weather Channels (yeaaaaaa I use them bastards :p), the PS3 has its unique awesome features as well.


One major gripe is the Friends Codes on the Wii system where players have to trade their unique 12-digit friend codes away from the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection before they can connect with eachother to play a game together or send Miis and messages to eachother. Theres a unique code for each online-enabled game as well as a unique Wii console code. Thats a hell of a lot of codes just to have fun together. The PS3 on the other hand just has one PSN (PlayStation Network) name where you can include the standard alphabets, digits and symbols for everything, games and the PS3.

Another cool feature is that you can tell when your friend is online and what they are playing. Nintendo puts so much empathsis on community, simplicity and fun when they restrict you so much to have fun with friends over the net! Any person you meet online during your travels through the PSN will be logged into a list of the most recent ten ppl and you can invite them to be your friend. So much easier. Sorry Nintendo, you lose once again for being a tight-mother.

Being able to customise the XMB (Cross-Media-Bar, which is the home page of the PS3) like the PSP's is a great feature. I have a Street Fighter IV wallpaper and Metal Gear Solid 4 icons; it really makes cool that you can personalise it. A downer on the Wii is that you cannot download trailers, demos and personalisations mainly because of the space-restrictions the Wii has (512MB compared to 20-80GB on the PS3). I have been downloading PS3 and movie trailers left-right-and-centre just to see the game in its HD-optimised quality.

With the Wii having no capability for anything other than playing games, checking the weather and news, the PS3 can also play Blu-ray, DVDs, MP3s, WMV and DivX files for your liking from a disc, a USB stick, a flash card or even through the network! I have hooked up my PS3 to my computer and have it stream movie and anime files from my HDD to my PS3 with no lag at all! Its freakin' brilliant! The PS3 was recently enabled with Force Feedback and Trophy (same as 360's Achievements) support. Its all good and all but the fact that only some games support these features and not all will be supporting these features in the future is very frustrating.

The most annoying game I have is Soulcalibur IV. The game is awesome but the extra features are lacking. Since the game was released long after the release of the DualShock 3, it doesn't support it at all! There is already a trophy system in place to unlock for extra in-game content and that system being used by the 360's Achievements, its unabled for the PS3's Trophy system... oh man. If Naughty Dog made Uncharted with a trophy system long before the PS3's Trophy update then when it was announced and releasing a patch for Uncharted to enable trophies, why couldn't Namco do that to begin with? Very frustrating.
Hehe also the PS3 is the first video game system to give me motion sickness! Probably because of its realism in HD that I got so sick that I had a headache even the following day. I was playing Time Crisis 4 one night in the dark and I felt really really sick. Maybe because I was sitting too close to the TV and it was in the dark but man did I feel really off. I blame Namco for this for having the G-Con3 gun wired instead of being wireless-enabled. But that was the last time I played the game and gave it back to Ren soon after.

Anyway I'm happy with my PlayStation 3 but I wouldn't say its better or worse than the Nintendo Wii an vice-versa. Both have its strengths and weaknesses and I wouldn't trade both of them for anything else in its generation unless Sony brings out a PS3 slim :p

Anyway I'm happy with my PlayStation 3 but I wouldn't say its better or worse than the Nintendo Wii an vice-versa. Both have its strengths and weaknesses and I wouldn't trade both of them for anything else in its generation unless Sony brings out a PS3 slim :p

My Sony PlayStation 3 games

I got my PlayStation 3 a week back and I must say its awesome. Currently searching for cheap games as I was for the PSP so I only have a few but it will grow by next year by hopefully the amount the Wii has.

1. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
2. BioShock (2K Marin/2k Games)
3. Burnout Paradise (Criterion Games/EA)
4. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Activision)
5. Call of Duty: World at War (Treyarch/Activision)
6. Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit (Dimps/Atari)
7. Enchanted Arms (From Software/Ubisoft)
8. Guitar Hero: World Tour (Neversoft/Activision)
9. littleBIGplanet (Media Molecule/SCEAus)
10. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (Capcom)
11. Medal of Honor: Airborne (EA LA/Electronic Arts)
12. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Kojima Productions/Konami)
13. Mirror's Edge (Electronic Arts)
14. The Orange Box (Valve/Electronic Arts)
15. Prince of Persia (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
16. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (KCET/Konami)
17. Ridge Racer 7 (Namco)
18. Soulcalibur IV (Namco Bandai Games/Ubisoft)
19. Stranglehold (Midway)
20. Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection Online (Namco/SCEAus)
21. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (Naughty Dog/SCEAus)
22. Virtua Fighter 5 (SEGA-AM2/THQ)
    

At least the Platinum titles are hits including Uncharted, Resistance and Heavenly Sword. But what I really am looking forward to is Eternal Sonata and White Knight Chronicles. The PS3 really need those RPGs to lift its game -.-

Last Updated: 3rd of March 2009

DigiDistro Musings

I was actually working on a Metal Gear Solid 4 review post for August but just couldn't finish it in a way I was satisfied with. Sorry about that dudes. It truly is an awesome game and I really want to review it so I'll do that after I do this one and two more on Space for Hiroes. Because its so awesome and groundbreaking, I just can't think of a good way to do it yet but it'll be soon!

Recently Digital Distribution has been getting popular lately and I can see why. The convenience of not having to go down to the store, find the game whether its there or not and wait in line just to get home to play. With Digital Distribution, you can just sit at the comfort of your home, enter your credit card or paypal details and ya off waiting for it to download!

Also concept and convenient and I can see why so many turn to it. Recently developers and publishers have been releasing their games as standard retail boxes and also online. And thats cool as there are many benefits from cutting the middle man out, everyone who wants a copy gets one and for convenience sake. I don't have a problem about this but why am I typing up a blog entry about it? Cause I think this is gonna be a worrying trend in the near future if publishers decides to release all games as Digital Distro only.

With the recent announcement D3 Publisher are removing their PSP UMD games to become download-only really worries me that others will follow. While others find it the best way to get games off Steam, XBLA, PSN etc instead of their physical-copies, I prefer to go out and shop for the best bargains of the same game. It may take me a few weeks to get a game I really want, at least I would've paid a price that was much less than what online offers (in their official AUD RRP). Another point that deters me from buying a digital copy is that, the publishers controls the price as its the only source to get it from and will never have a sale unless the game is selling like nothing. Whereas at the shops, they compete with eachother and have sales and bundles etc.

Having a physical copy to display on shelf is also another great satisfaction of my accomplishment that I was able to get it for a great price. I have many friends come to my house and always awe at my collection of games whereas having the games I have downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel on my Wii does not have the same effect. Ren and I constantly look inside second-hand shops for the good rare games at bargain prices and its a great feeling when you do find a gem underneath many normal games.

I know many gamers aren't as hardcore and economical as me when it comes to buying games but the feeling that you actually own it and not just stored on your harddrive is such a much better feeling. There are some instances I do buy a digital copy when there is no other option for a classic game to be played as the Wii's Virtual Console games are. Especially the rare games like Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario that weren't even released in PAL and released in public in Australia respectively. Thats acceptable and most of the classic games that just aren't available anymore or wasn't at all that are on sale on PSN, XBL and VC.

If the world thinks like ex-Xbox boss Peter Moore then it would be a sad one when every game will need to be bought and downloaded online. Its also sad that some of the great games are already digital only like Penny Arcade Adventures: On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness and Audiosurf but for the majority of games, they are still available in physical and digital so thats relieve... for now.

I really hope it continues to have both options and not just digital only. My collection would die, eBay will suck for games and just.... would be boring to shop for a game-geek like me. Also I don't want the publishers to handle the prices and never have sales or reasonable prices especially in Australia where everything is double the price of what America pays.... gay. More games in retail the better, more competition and cheaper prices as well as knowing you own a physical copy... all worth it.

My Nintendo DS games

Now its time for my DS games to shine! While I have slowed down getting DS games after getting a TT, I still get original DS games whenever they're cheap and nothing else on other platforms I should buy instead. Nothing against the games, its just a pain that prices here for DS games are exceedingly expensive so take that Nintendo and ATARI!

1. Advance Wars: Dual Strike (Intelligent Systems/Nintendo)
2. Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)
3. Another Code: Two Memories (Cing/Nintendo)
4. Bomberman Land Touch! (Hudson Soft/Red Ant Enterprises)
5. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (Konami/ATARI)
6. Contact (Grasshopper Manufacture/Red Ant Enterprises)
7. Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors 2 (Cavia/ATARI)
8. Elite Beat Agents (iNiS/Nintendo)
9. Fullmetal Alchemist: Dual Sympathy (Bandai/Destineer)
   
10. Guilty Gear: Dust Strikers (Arc System Works/Majesco)
11. Guitar Hero: On Tour (Vicarious Visions/Activision)
12. Harvest Moon DS (Marvelous Interactive/Natsume)
13. Jump Super Stars (Ganbarion/Nintendo)
14. Jump Ultimate Stars (Ganbarion/Nintendo)
15. Kanji Sonomama: DS Rakubiki Jiten (Nintendo/Nintendo)
16. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)
17. Lunar Genesis (Japan Art Media/Red Ant Enterprises)
18. Metroid Prime Pinball (NST/Nintendo)
    
19. Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 (iNiS/Nintendo)
20. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)
21. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Capcom/Nintendo)
    
22. Phoenix Wright: Justice for All (Capcom/Nintendo)
23. Pokémon Dash (AmbrellaNintendo)
24. Pokémon Diamond (Game Freak/Nintendo)
25. Pokémon Pearl (Game Freak/Nintendo)
26. Pokémon Ranger (HAL Laboratory/Nintendo)
    
27. Pokémon Trozei (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)
28. Project Rub (Sonic Team/Nintendo)
29. Puyo Pop Fever (Sonic Team/SEGA)
30. The Rub Rabbits (Sonic Team/SEGA)
31. Sonic Rush (Dimps/SEGA)
    
32. Super Mario 64 DS (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)
33. Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble (Clover Studios/Capcom)
34. WarioWare: Touched! (Intelligent Systems/Nintendo)

While my purchases of DS games have slowed down heaps, I still wanna get a few that I am missings like Sonic Rush Adventure, Apollo Justice, Metroid Prime Hunters, Castlevania: Aria or Sorrow etc. But they will have to be super cheap to warrant a purchase from me anymore. See like PSP games are cheap as (maybe cause PSP games aren't selling) so I've resisted getting that modded. Hope sooner or later, Australian publishers will find it in their heart to charge proper prices for these games as our economy continue to rise and the Aussie Dollar going to go on par with the US Dollar soonish!

Last Updated: 9th of August 2008

My Nintendo Wii Games

I dunno why it took this long for me to make a list of my Wii and DS games but here is the Wii ones. At the moment I'm reading the live-blog of Nintendo's E3 Press Conference and its kinda.... slow so I'll do this at the same time

1. Animal Crossing: City Folk (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)
2. Battalion Wars 2 (Kuju Entertainment/Nintendo)
3. Big Brain Academy for Wii (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)
4. Bully: Scholarship Edition (Rockstar/Take-Two)
5. Disaster: Day of Crisis (Monolith Soft/Nintendo)
6. Ghost Squad (SEGA-AM2/SEGA)
7. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Vicarious Visions/Acitivision)
8. The House of the Dead 2 & 4 Return (SEGA)
9. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (SEGA)
10. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)
11. Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 (EA Canada/Electronic Arts)
12. Medal of Honor: Vanguard (EA Los Angeles/Electronic Arts)
13. No More Heroes (Grasshopper Manufacture/Rising Star Games)
14. Red Steel (Ubisoft Paris/Ubisoft)
15. Sonic and the Secret Rings (Sonic Team/SEGA)
    
16. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)
17. Super Paper Mario (Intelligent Systems/Nintendo)
18. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Sora/Nintendo)
19. Wii Fit (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)
    
20. Wii Play (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)
21. Wii Sports (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)
22. Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure (Capcom/THQ)

Also theres the Virtual Console games:

1. Harvest Moon (Natsume)
2. Mario Kart 64 (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)
3. Paper Mario (Intelligent Systems/Nintendo)
4. Sin & Punishment ～地球の継承者～ (Treasure/Nintendo)
5. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (Squaresoft/Nintendo)
6. Super Metroid (Intelligent Systems/Nintendo)

I don't have any WiiWare games but I should be getting Bomberman (WiiWare) first thing its released :)
Well i have had way more Wii games than this but I've traded them in including SSX Blur, Kororinpa, Wing Island, No More Heroes etc. But No More Heroes I will get again later, I just needed it gone for a bit :D

Last Updated: 19th of December 2008

Best Games of the First-Half of 2008 (Spoilers)

Well guys, it is now July of the year 2008 and many epic games have been released in the first half of the year so here I go with what I have played of games released in that period. I currently only have a Wii so I am missing a lot of "high-end-tech" games but that would be nullified when I get my paws on Ren's Xbox 360 throughout the remainder of the year. Plus I'll add some games that I assume is kickass anyway :p

5. The World Ends With You
Released: 17th of April 2008
This is an odd but original title from Square-Enix and its freakin' nice to see them releasing an original game instead of whoring out Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest titles cosntantly. I have yet to finish it but the game is very very unique and the battle system is confusing at first as you have to control two screens to battle at once but you will get used to it. I like the music in it as its like J-Pop, the way I like it! Hope Square-Enix still make games like this and I will finish this game real soon. The story is very captivating but I was taken away by other games I have obtained sadly but I don't regret it :)


4. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Released: 26th of June 2008
Why is this fourth on the list? Because I have dropped it down to here because Nintendo Australia pisses me off way too often. Now there isn't anything too wrong with the offline portion of the game, its just that Nintendo are way too conversative when it comes to online and also haven't fixed the lag-issues that plagued the earlier releases in other countries. It took over three months for a release here but nothing of the technical issues has been changed for the better. Disgusting effort. There are no online ranking, chatrooms, voice-chat, DLC or anything! Its appalling for a highly competitive game that all Nintendo fans have been craving for. Anywho...

Despite the horrible load times, the game is a fantastic masterpiece that includes everything in the previous Super Smash Bros. Melee and adds some more. What you get is every Nintendo Fanboys' wetdream and includes Solid Snake and Sonic the Hedgehog! While more third-party characters would've been more kickass, I am more than happy to have the selections we got. While some new characters are underwhelming (Metaknight and Sonic), some characters are surprisingly a delight to play (ROB, Wolf and Solid Snake) and are just immersely fun to just muck around (King Dedede and Capt. Olimer). The adventure mode, The Subspace Emissary is a well thought out mode that includes an RPG story with the gameplay of Brawl but minus the voice-acting... so its kinda weird and can get confusing trying to understand the damn story! However its a good piece of gameplay that adds to the already awesome game.

I know I will continue playing this throughout the year and may even jump up the ranks or go down when new releases hit. But for now, it stays here while I continue playing it with my mates xD


3. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Released: 12th of June 2008
Solid Snake's swansong and sadly I have not played it nor I know what its about other than Solid has become Old Snake. The pics and videos I have seen of it looks fantastic and is currently the best looking game so far of any game. Hopefully I can get a PlayStation 3 one day so I can just play this game as its the only one game I want to play sooooooooooo damn badly. Luckily theres a nice gentleman that is willing to give me a go when he himself gets a PS3! You are one awesome lad Cryptix!


2. Mario Kart Wii
Released: 24th of April 2008
Who can resist Mario Kart Wii? Among family and friends that come to my place, this game just dominates even over Super Smash Bros. Brawl. While it is easy to pick up and play via the Wii Steering Wheel attachment to the hardcore and best suited Wiimote and Nunchaku configuration, it is the most perfect game to play with anyone and at anytime. The online components are nice and fleshed out compared to previous Nintendo entries but it could've been so much better but I'm not too emo about it anymore after getting my rank way up! The AI in the game are way too unforgiving and just rubber-bands everywhere if you are not too careful. Thankfully I am a pro and was able to outsmart them and unlock everything within five days if I am correct.

This takes Runner Up for the immense fun I had with this game that kept me going on and on and also making me forget all about Brawl. Also it didn't lag online unlike Brawl so it was easily the best online console game I have played so far. Really hope some of my mates will get awesome at it so I can have some competition, not fun just playing losers all the time and getting thrashed by Eric constantly :p


1. Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII-
Released: 19th of June 2008
I just finished this game today and man... this is the most emotional game I have ever played! Even the original Final Fantasy VII or Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater didn't bring a tear to my eyes but this one did! Even though I knew how the game was gonna end, since its a prequel to the original, the story telling was fair flawless and really filled a lot of holes in the original's story. Unlike the unnecessary sequels Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII and Advent Children, this one is a legitimate entry into the world of Gaia. As most people already know that our protagonist Zack Fair dies, its great to see his humble beginners as a SOLDIER to how he became an inspiration to Cloud Strife, how he met Aeris, where the Buster Sword was originally from and the the deep insight to why Sephiroth became a crazed lunatic. It was also great and interesting to see Sephiroth as a good guy with friends (two of them!) and a sense of humor before he turned crazy. There are also some hilarious caemos from the original cast from Yuffie to Reno to Cait Sith.
With all that, the game doesn't even need awesome graphics to be the best Final Fantasy ever but it does and it excels at it by including the best voice acting (sorry MGS: Portable Ops) and the best soundtrack (sorry Zelda: Phantom Hourglass) for a portable game. While it is an Action-RPG, its not like Kingdom Hearts as its more Turn-Based on how you control Zack in a battle so it allows you a bit of time to organise your defences and tactics unlike Kingdom Hearts. However the battle system is not without its flaws. The limit breaks in this game are way too frequent however helpful and beautifully rendered they were, the cutscenes that come with it cannot be skipped and really distract from the heat of battle and really lengthens the battle time. This goes for all cutscenes as you cannot skip them within the game. Its great to watch them but it is annoying when you perish and have to watch all the cutscenes again to get back into a battle. The cutscenes are done very well and really deserves its own gallery however there is none so you have to resort to downloading them.

I currently give this Game of the Year because I can and its a very good game from every way I look at it. Its not perfect but it well get your emotions running a bit especially if you are attached to Final Fantasy VII. Even if you know how the ending will play out, its an awesome experience to be Zack on his adventures to being the Hero he really deserves to be.


Other games that are note-worthy but I don't have the time to write about them or I haven't played yet includes:
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin - beautiful game but also very sad and dark. Nice to see Nintendo lean towards that way for once
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney - played it, loved it but its way too similar to the previous trilogy.
Dancing Stage: Hottest Party - everyone knows I love DDR and I want this game so bad but no money!
Devil May Cry 4 - is Nero better than Dante? I doubt it but still wanna play it.
Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit - just like the original Budokai games but looks much more sharper.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates - beautiful DS game but with crap AI
Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift - its Tactics and its back without lag!
God of War: Chains of Olympus - it was in my hands for a split second!
Grand Theft Auto IV - played a bit and its very different from the previous entries, need to spend more time on it.
Ikaruga - way hard game but its HD!
Medal of Honor Heroes 2 - would've added it but EA Australia fucked up the online components BIG TIME!
Ōkami - soon when I get it on Wii!
Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 - apparently best soccer game ever made... I will get it soonish!
Soulcalibur - port of the Dreamcast classic which I have never played.
Time Crisis 4 - its like the arcades but more expensive and with a baby orange G-Con gun.
Wii Fit - is this even a game?
Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure - much too difficult for me, u pretty much need a MENSA brain to finish this game without any online help.

Well I'm looking forward for the remainder of the year. Got some awesome games coming soon but sadly, they're not on Wii. Hopefully Nintendo announces something nice soon (Animal Crossing doesn't count Nintendo!) and surprise us all on the Wii and DS front or there will be a drought of exclusive first-party games =.=

Lets finish it off with my main pink kawan!

Movies I have seen in the cinema

I remember one day at school, I tried to write down every single movie I have watched in the cinema... and I don't think I succeeded because my memory has been fading recently of my younger years. Which kinda sucks so I want to make lists and plenty more lists online for myself to keep track of and hopefully for others to view and peek into my awesome life :D
So I'll try to make it as accurate as possible to what I can remember.

1. Aladdin (1992)
2. The Lion King (1994)
3. GoldenEye (1995)
4. The Phantom (June 1996)
5. Hercules (1997)
6. George of the Jungle (1997) - first movie with Eric
7. Flubber (1997)
8. Small Soldiers (1998)
9. Antz (1998)
10. The Rugrats Movie (1998)
11. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (May, 1999) - last movie with my father
12. Pokémon: The First Movie (November, 1999) - saw twice
13. The Perfect Storm (2000) - first movie with Apollo mates I believe
14. Pokémon: The Movie 2000 (2000)
15. Pokémon 3: The Movie (April 2001)
16. The Mummy Returns (May, 2001)
17. Shrek (May, 2001)
18. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (June 2001)
19. The One (November 2001) - last movie with my mother
20. Ocean's Eleven (December 2001)
21. Van Wilder: Party Liaison (April 2002)
22. Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)
23. Minority Report (June 2002)
24. Die Another Day (2002)
25. The Tuxedo (January, 2003) - first Jackie Chan movie
26. The Matrix Reloaded (May, 2003) - for Milamber's birthday
27. X-Men 2 (May, 2003)
28. Bruce Almighty (June, 2003)
29. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (July, 2003)
30. The School of Rock (November, 2003)
31. The Matrix Revolutions (November, 2003)
32. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (December 2003) - first and only time at Forest Hill
33. Steamboy (March, 2004) - first and only time with Cao
34. Shrek 2 (2004)
35. Spider-Man 2 (July, 2004)
36. Unleashed (August, 2004)
37. Around the World in 80 Days (August, 2004) - first movie at Knox V-MAX cinema
38. Resident Evil: Apocalypse (September 2004) - watched in Japan
39. Breaking News (2005) - first foreign live-action flick
40. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (May, 2005)
41. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (May, 2005)
42. Batman Begins (2005)
43. Mr. and Mrs. Smith (26/6/2005)
44. Initial D (July, 2005) - first movie at Chinatown Cinema
45. Red Eye (August, 2005)
46. Doom (October, 2005) - last movie with Pottsy
47. The 40 Year-Old Virgin (24/11/2005) - first movie at Crown Village cinemas
48. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (6/12/2005)
49. King Kong (12/12/2005)
50. The Legend of Zorro (26/12/2005)
51. Memoirs of a Geisha (January, 2006)
52. Underworld: Evolution (21/1/2006)
53. Big Momma's House 2 (7/2/2006)
54. Date Movie (10/3/2006) - first movie at Glen Waverly Village cinemas
55. V for Vendetta (5/4/2006)
56. Scary Movie 4 (18/4/2006)
57. Goal! (2006) - first movie at Southland Village cinemas
58. Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (20/4/2006) - first movie with Satsuki
59. The Da Vinci Code (19/5/2006)
60. Mission: Impossible III (May, 2006) - first movie at Melbourne Central Hoyts cinemas
61. X-Men: The Last Stand (May, 2006)
62. Superman Returns (6/7/2006)
63. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (11/07/2006)
64. Hard Candy (18/7/2006) - first movie with Deakin Uni buds
65. DOA: Dead or Alive (September, 2006)
66. Silent Hill (13/09/2006)
67. The Departed (October, 2006)
68. Children of Men (October, 2006) - movie for my 19th Birthday
69. Casino Royale (November, 2006) - first movie watched in Malaysia
70. Death Note - the last name (2007) - second movie watched in Malaysia
71. Smokin' Aces (15/2/2007)
72. Transformers (07/03/2007)
73. Hot Fuzz (15/03/2007)
74. TMNT (23/3/2007)
75. Mr. Bean's Holiday (10/4/2007)
76. 300 (13/4/2007)
77. Curse of the Golden Flower (30/04/2007) - first movie with Ren
    
78. Spider-Man 3 (04/05/2007)
    
79. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (25/05/2007)
80. Shrek the Third (15/06/2007) - first movie with Meiling
81. Tales From Earthsea (08/07/2007)
82. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (July, 2007) - first movie with Tsukasa
83. The Simpsons Movie (20/07/2007)
84. Flash Point (August, 2007) - first HK movie I watched with non-Asians
85. The Bourne Ultimatum (August 2007) - free exclusive advance screening at Crown Village
86. Stardust (25/09/2007)
87. Rush Hour 3 (27/09/2007) - same day as I got my Ps
88. Resident Evil: Extinction (24/10/2007) - movie for my 20th Birthday
89. Rogue Assassin (1/11/2007)
90. Hitman (November, 2007) - first movie with Monash Uni buds
91. Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (December, 2007)
92. I Am Legend (15/01/2008)
93. Dan in Real Life (February, 2008) - won tickets to see advanced screening
94. Iron Man (May 2008)
95. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls (22/05/2008)
96. Get Smart (01/07/2008)
97. You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2/7/2008)
98. The Dark Knight (17/7/2008)
99. Tropic Thunder (25/8/08)
100. Pineapple Express (29/8/08)

Best of HK Cinema (w/o J&J)

Because Jackie Chan and Jet Li are so well known around the world, I would like to share some of the best Hong Kong films around :) My taste for movies probably won't suit everyone but the movies that I have shown to people, they have thoroughly enjoyed it (cept gay Ren). I have only Hong Kong productions so don't expect Mainland titles such as Hero, Curse of the Golden Flower etc or whatever at my discretion.
So I'll start with the unranked top 10

City on Fire (1987)
龍虎風雲
Danny Lee in a rare role as a criminal (and a ultra-violent one at that) along side the prodigy of gun-kata Chow Yun-Fat. So what does a man do when he has to betray his friend because he is an undercover cop and give up the love of his life to protect her from harm? Chow is the man and he pulls it off with style. Excellent performance by all including the director Ringo Lam, who is famous for Jackie Chan's Twin Dragons. Apparently this film was plagarised by Quentin Tarantino on his film Reservoir Dogs. I haven't seen it though but I do now just to see what are the similarities in it. Hope its nothing cause nothing can compare to the original!

Fight Back to School 2 (1992)
逃學威龍2
Stephen Chow ftw! Being an undercover cop in high school does have its perks and Stephen Chow really makes use of it and its just damn funny seeing him being a kid over again. This comedy really has everything it needs to be funny and much much more so just watch it dammit!

God of Gamblers (1989)
賭神
Wong Jing has been making rather lousy movies of late but this is an absolute classic and really started off the gambling scene in films. While a young Andy Lau would later go on to start as a God of Gamblers in future films, he plays a very very interesting supporting role that takes the spotlight out of the main lead Chow Yun-Fat. Because of the previous films that Chow has been in, it was always expected that he would just go out all guns blazing but instead in this film he plays a guy who has amnesia so he acts like a kid but can still perform all his gambling brilliance when he eats chocolate. This really is a nice break from his diehard action movies that really shows Chow Yun-Fat is the God of Acting :p

Infernal Affairs (2001)
無間道
Okay, I hate how Hollywood remade this movie into some stupid wog gang movie but it was still a solid film at that. But I also hate how the remake won so many awards when the ideas weren't theirs. While they did buy the rights to remake it, it just sounds so wrong and that they only paid for the first film but took ideas from the following two movies... cheats. But alas, can't do anything about it right? You guys may know this movie as The Departed that won some Academy Awards. This is the original and way better than the remake when watched with part 2 and 3. This film really helped the Hong Kong film industry when it was in dire need of creative injections and it gave film-makers more to think about when making new movies. Great watch and you will see that the originals are way better than the remake!

The Killer (1989)
喋血双雄
I think I love Chow Yun-Fat way too much but he just makes such awesome action movies and this is no different than his other ones. So whats different in this than the others? We have Chow Yun-Fat being a criminal for once, Danny Lee puts up an awesome performance as a cop as always and just awesome action over and over again. Chow this time plays an assassin but with feeeeeeeeeelings and he accidentally makes a woman go blind so he cares for her in the background. Danny Lee finally catches up with his nice habit and traces Chow down so its another cat and mouse game with a girl in-between. Also did I mention the action is freakin' awesome? John Woo directed this and I can see why its just so good.

Love on a Diet (2001)
瘦身男女
Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng in fatsuits! While the makeup is not as good as the Nutty Professor, its still as hilarious to see two fat people trying to lose weight in the most funny ways possible. I reckon this is the best Andy and Sammi collaboration ever compared to Needing You... and Yesterday Once More because this is just straight forward funny and not some crazy love story put together quickly. You may also watch it to listen to the funny Japanese the Chinese people throw around. As a hot chick said to Sammi "It's mission impossible" to lose weight in six months. I really need to get a DVD copy of this soon...

The Legend of Speed (1999)
烈火戰車2 While Ekin Cheng's movies have declined in quality and quanity in recent years but this is one of his finest achievements. While I like him in the Young & Dangerous series, he was still very new to the genre but now he is a bit more mature, he put up one excellent performance as a spoilt kid learning to grow up and learn from his mistakes. Originally planned as a direct sequel to Andy Lau's Full Throttle this film features racing and totally outruns its spiritual successor Initial D by the same director. The only crap thing was Cecilia Cheung in it as a persistent annoying brat that travels across South-East Asia just to piss Ekin even more off... boooooo.

Fatal Contact (2006)
黑拳
The latest film in my top ten happens to be a martial arts flick. While the story is a tad weak throughout and with a very sad ending, it really pays homage to the early days of martial arts films in the early 90s and late 80s. Just heaps of hardcore fighting that don't look fake at all. Wu Jing is hailed as the next Jet Li and really succeeds in showing the audience that he can live up to that name! Sadly he cannot act well but that didn't stop Jackie Chan and Jet Li from becoming international stars. Hopefully Wu Jing can keep it up and not be taken in by Hollywood. Also check out his other films Invisible Target and SPL for some more awesome fight scenes! This also starts Ronald Cheng as a surprising but effective fighter!

Running Out of Time (1999)
暗戰
I watched this just before I started to get into Hong Kong movies besides the normal Jackie Chan, Chow Yun-Fat and Jet Li ones and this just blew me away. Its so cleverly done and Andy Lau as a crook for once is engaging to say the least. He plays a cancer-stricken dude who engages a police negotiator in a game of cat and mouse before his time is up. While the reason for the game is very very vague, its just very interesting seeing these two go at eachother. The sequel with Ekin Cheng is very good too so don't miss out on that.

Shaolin Soccer (2001)
少林足球
Probably the first Stephen Chow movie I've seen and also probably the most well-known movie in my list that you guys have heard of. So lets cut it short, Stephen is a bum and starts a soccer team with his Shaolin-trained buddies whom are also bums and just dominates the soccer league. Enter the villian who will try at anything to kick their ass back to their rubbish tips. So I think that should convince everyone who hasn't seen it to watch it. Also make sure to see the uncut Hong Kong version because the Western version is heavily edited to "suit" Western tastes more... silly Hollywood guys.

Here are the rest of movies that you guys should check out. I highly recommend them because I have thoroughly enjoyed them

A Better Tomorrow
A Man Called Hero
Chinese Odyssey 2002
Chocolate Inspector
CJ7
The Conman
Eastern Condors
Enter the Phoenix
Flash Point
From Beijing with Love
The God of Cookery
God of Gamblers Returns
Hard Boiled
Heroic Duo
Infernal Affairs 2
Invisible Target
Jiang Hu ~ the triad zone
Kung Fu Hustle
The Last Blood
My Wife is 18
Needing You... (screw you Ren)
Once A Thief
Private Eyes
Prince Charming
Running Out of Time 2
Super Model
Tiger on the Beat Tokyo Raiders
Young and Dangerous

While I haven't watched a majority of Hong Kong movies and I'm sure I am missing a lot of good old movies but my tastes lie in late-70s to now. Sadly a lot of these shows cannot be found in retailers so Chinatown, Springvale (eww) and Box Hill are great places to check.

Lets finish it off with the Shaolin Soccer sequel
少林少女の柴咲 コウ

Top Ten Video Game Intros

It says Video Games but I am only including Home Console Video Game Intros. I really like watching intros of games over and over again because they are just awesome. Even though most of the time, it shows something truly spectacular and cannot be done within the game, its just still very cool to watch. A lot of the times, the intro is used in game trailers to entice ppl to buy/play them and often it works even if it isn't in-game graphics!

10. History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi: Gekitō! Ragnarok Hachikengō (PS2) - Capcom
『史上最強の弟子ケンイチ 激闘!ラグナレク八拳豪』
Lets kick it off with an Anime game. One thing I love about this intro is that its better than the two proper Anime intros :p We got Kenichi fighting Hermit! Something I wished was extended and fleshed out in the Anime series but sadly wasn't. Also the music is freakin' awesome, give it a go guys.
Song 「勇気のチカラ」 by Aiko Kayo


9. Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 (PS2) - Dimps/Atari
『ドラゴンボールZ3』
It was a tough choice to pick this over the following Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi but I think I made the right choice. Getting the Dragon Ball GT guys to make the intro and also getting Hironobu Kageyama to perform a NEW intro really brings a tear to my eyes... Since previous games reused CHA-LA HEAD CHA-LA to pieces, its nice to see Bandai bringing DBZ back to its roots.
Song 「俺はとことん止まらない!!」 by Hironobu Kageyama


8. Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner (PS2) - Konami
『ANUBIS - ZONE OF THE ENDERS』
I'm sure close to no one will know about this game (besides Ren and Lebo) and the intro is one very very long trailer pretty much. However it does introduce the game and showing you what happened in the previous game. The music is trippy but its suits the ANUBIS style if you will :p
Song 「Beyond the Bounds」 by Maki Kimura


7. Kingdom Hearts (PS2) - Squaresoft
『キングダムハーツ』
Squaresoft... why you guys keep making awesome intros to games huh? Bringing in the ever graceful Utada Hikaru to perform the intro song was one of the smartest moves ever. This introduced Utada to the Western world and she has been popular ever since! While it was a tough choice to pick between this and the sequel's intro, this one doesn't require you to know anything while the sequel kinda confuses you on what happened in between which is where Chains of Memories took place but that game was crap but they expect you to know what have happened... So the original wins and owns!
Song 「Simple and Clean -PLANITb REMIX-」 by Utada Hikaru


6. Soul Blade (PSone) - Namco
『ソウルブレード』
Before the time of scantily dressed women in fighting video games, there was:
~I gotta get to the Edge of Soul
To carry on what I believed
In from the very start
I gotta get to the Edge of Soul
To carry on deep in my heart~
Corny lyrics but it was awesome then. Disappointed with following sequels where the music are all symphonic and not energetic as this original was.
Song 「The Edge of Soul」 by KHAN


5. Chrono Cross (PSone) - Squaresoft
『クロノ・クロス』
3D Anime CGs usually look good and Squaresoft did it again in this awesome CG piece with music to my ears. I still put the disc in my PS2 just to play the intro over and over again... its that good.
Song 「Chrono Cross ~Scars of Time~」 by Yasunori Mitsuda


4. Final Fantasy VIII (PSone, PC) - Squaresoft
『ファイナルファンタジーVIII』
Come on, its Final Fantasy and at least one of them would get in this list. Well, this probably was the first realistic looking CG FMV to grace a video game and where better to begin it: the PlayStation CD. Four discs full of FMVs but the intro takes the cake.
Sony 「Liberi Fatali」 by Shiro Hamaguchi


3. Onimusha 3: Demon Siege (PS2, PC) - Capcom
『鬼武者3』
Hong Kong film Martial Arts Expert Donnie Yen choreographed and motioned captured himself for this exciting intro scene. Kinda funny that also-Hong Kong film star Takeshi Kaneshiro didn't do it himself but then it wouldn't look as freakin' awesome! Its a long one but it certainly made me stand outside a Malaysian gaming shop to watch it twice!
Song 「Onimusha 3 Opening」 by Masamichi Amano


2. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (PS2) - Konami
『メタルギアソリッド2 サンズ オブ リバティー』
Seeing as it was the first PlayStation 2 game boasted to show off the capabilities of the console and push it to its limits, Hideo Kojima had to live up to the hype and he did it with style! Rain, Smoke, Fog, Lightning... omg and all done in-game! No CG, just the power of the PS2 and it was truly awesome, check it out folks.
Song 「Metal Gear Solid 2 Main Theme」 by Harry Gregson-Williams


1. Pro Evolution Soccer 3 (PS2, PC) - Konami
『ワールドサッカーウイニングイレブン7 インターナショナル』
So why does a soccer game intro take first place? It doesn't have the flashiness of soccer celebrities playing with a soccer ball as in the FIFA games nor any big names. Well I picked it because of one line:

"It Captures the Game"

Music Composer: Norikazu Miura


I really really wanted to add more and a lot of the games comes from the same series so I had to rationalise. I know some Nintendo fans gonna kill me for not including Melee! But that wasn't anything fancy, just seeing your Nintendo characters in CG 3D with orchestrated music for once wasn't all that remarkable compared to these. Maybe it could've been tenth but yeah... haha

My Sony PSP Games

Well as most of you guys know, I have a PSP and it only cost me $120, a fact that I am extremely proud of. Seeing as its a new console to my collection, I only have a handful of PSP games but it is growing! Also I'm not planning on modding my PSP to play ISOs as the games are already cheap anyway. Feels so much better to have them original eh? So more coming soon!

1. Burnout Dominator (EA UK/Electronic Arts)
2. Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- (Square-Enix/Ubisoft)
3. DJ Max Portable (Pentavision)
4. Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai (Dimps/Atari)
5. Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (TOSE/Square-Enix)
   
6. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar/Take-Two)
7. Metal Gear Ac!d² (Konami)
   
8. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (Kojima Productions/Konami)
9. Metal Slug Complete (SNK Playmore)
10. Shinobido: Tales of the Ninja (Acquire/SCEE)
11. Tekken: Dark Resurrection (Namco)

Also I'm collecting UMD movies:

1. Steamboy (Sony Pictures)

Well thats all I got atm and should be more real soonish! Its just atm its pretty difficult to find good games as the PSP sections of shops are soooo tiny now. Hahaha go Nintendo DS!

Last Updated: 10th of September 2008