2005-06-21

What I've Been Playing

I think a little update to the current games that have been taking up my time is in order.

Forza Motorsports
A fine driving simulation game. The lack of GT4 license and a fairly good difficulty curve keeps this game enjoyable and I haven't even had the pleasure of playing it on Live! yet. Graphically it isn't quite as strong as GT4 but that is presumably, in part, caused by the fact that you can customize the look of your car a lot more. The addition of a damage model is a big plus over GT4. I'm still terrible at driving games but this has been one that I've managed to get into.
Onimusha 2
I've had this for a long time but haven't really had time to play it. I'm not so sure about the merchants and the whole giving gifts to characters at all. I feel it detracts from what should really be a horror game. Plus the whole gift giving, I mean, is it really necessary? Anyway random demon hacking action.
SSX 3
Racing down a slope, or trying to do a few tricks, on a snowboard. It's straight up good fun; tricks are much easier to pull than in the first one and though that takes away a bit of the skill it does make the learning curve a bit easier and all that really results is for the criteria for winning to be generally tougher.

That's really it for the last week and a bit. I'm not really sure I can even call myself a gamer anymore. With the exception of a bit of Halo 2 I probably haven't even been online that much either.

2005-06-14

Square Enix and The Curse of the Title

Some people say that Squaresoft (now known as Square Enix ever since that merger) really should have had a better title than Final Fantasy when making a game that ended up having lots of sequels*. However I just read a press release stating, SQUARE ENIX SHIPS FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST™ 2: CURSE OF THE CRIMSON ELIXIR. Fullmetal Alchemist 2: Curse of the Crimson Elixir; seriously... April the 1st was a long time ago you know. Maybe they should just stick with Final Fantasy XXIX.

* Final Fantasy was released just as Squaresoft were running out of money; they assumed it was going to be their last title.

2005-06-13

XBox 360 and Playstation 3 Articles

The Internet is full of articles about the XBox 360 and the PS3. Some that stood out, as a detailed look at the hardware, was the articles on Ars Technica namely:

They can get a little technical, and are quite lengthy, but are certainly worth the read.