Proteus: Graphics and Exploration

I'd like to start off with a nice video walkthrough/commentary on Proteus.  Just in case my gushing and images aren't enough, this walk-through will give you some idea of what it is like to play Proteus.  That said, this video is basically one big spoiler.  So if you haven't yet played Proteus... maybe just ignore me until it goes on sale (I'll let you know), and then buy it and then play it.  

RockLeeSmile highlights indie games in a series of videos called 'Indie Impressions.'

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I've played Proteus through a couple times now, and I think I've made some basic determinations about this game:  Proteus is an easter-egg hunt.  No one is keeping score - and there is a complete lack of achievements.  The purpose of the game is to play it and enjoy it, the player decides how much they enjoy it.  I am one who has decided to love it.  There are others who decided not to.  That is ok with me.  But if you choose to play, you can spend your time looking around, and you will find some things that may catch your attention and interest, and possibly provide you with some delight.  

Actually, funny thing--  I have been thinking about making a game based on the causeway which connects Sacramento to Davis.   I ride over this causeway on the train all the time, and when I'm looking out the window, I have observed a lot of beauty and subtle differences.  Because I love games and thinking about gaming, I've wanted to depict this environment through gaming.

My initial idea was to make a minecraft of the causeway.  This I still may do if I come into a boatload of time and patience.  The things that I observe from out the train window are mostly:  the weather and the animals.  The causeway is sometimes foggy, sometimes clear, sometimes flooded.  Sometimes I see egrets and ducks floating in the water, sometimes I see geese in the air, and little swarms of tiny birds.  Sometimes I can see the mountains in the distance and snow on top.  Sometimes the fields are full of wheat or squash or some other plants.  The colors can be many shades of brown, or contrasting shades of bright green, blue mountains, stark-white farm buildings and bright blue sky.

As I've observed the world of the causeway through the window of a train, I've wanted to share this form of peaceful joy with the world.  And as I imagine an artistic rendering of this landscape, I've thought of doing so with a video game.  This video game would need to pay special attention to the landscape, animals and weather.  The purpose of the game would be to travel through and observe a world of beautiful sights and sounds.

Proteus has done just that.  My playing experience is akin to looking out the window at the causeway, imagining what it would be like to wander around there and take in the sights, sounds and smells.  It really is amazing to me, to capture such a sublime experience, and I am very glad I found this game. Sorry to gush.  

Two of the most outstanding features of Proteus are: the practiced restraint on the part of programmers, and the synchronization of the sound and visual space.  There are musical cues triggered by the environment in a variety of ways.  Some triggers come from being near something: the hoot of an owl, the croak of a frog.  Some are triggered by looking at something, such as the sun on a hot summer day, or a shooting star.  

Sometimes I think that Proteus is too sparse, and could use more of everything.  More birds, more bugs, more trees, more weather.  But one thing it does wonderfully is to balance what it does have into a consistently interesting gaming experience.  I believe it is through restraint on the part of the game designers, that this balance is achieved.  I would be very sad if there was a sequel or expansion to Proteus that, perhaps with a zeal to improve and expand on the game play, was to disrupt the balance so that the sense of wonder and joy were lost or significantly diminished.    

It is possible that this game can be so much more than it is, but it is also possible that what Proteus is - is the best thing it can be, and that this feeling I've gotten from playing, of so much more, is best for me to hold, and relish and used for inspiration to create something beautiful myself, rather than to demand it from the creators of Proteus or the industry in general.

I think it may be that the very sparseness of Proteus lends itself to the need for a player to explore.  For example, if I'm feeling aimless while playing, I find a good strategy is to chase a frog until I find something that catches my interest.  Sometimes this leads to finding something unexpected.  

Full Review: The World Ends With You (DS) / Part II: Music

So once again, I've finally gotten off my ass and now I'm at it.  Finishing up watching The Oscars.  I've told The Kid and I'll stand by it, the 2013 Oscars have been fairly lackluster and ". . .eh. . ."  Seth McFarlane has been not that great of a host of a show that hasn't been all that great, although far be if from me to critique a job that I would never be able to do, nor want to do.  I don't even like talking on the phone, let alone to a group (more than one) of people.

On that note, finally finishing this review.  It's been an odd challenge that I can't fully explain.  But this time, I'm hear to talk about the music from The World Ends With You, primarily composed by Takeharu Ishimoto.

Madd 'shoppin' skills yo!

I'm going to try and not make this sound like the Wikipedia article or like an article on Wikipedia and will probably be more like some of the other Game Scores articles that I've written, except that this has a corresponding article about the content of the game.  So why does TWEWY deserve it's own full article for the music?  For one, there are four separate releases.  There's the The World Ends With You Original Soundtrack, the Subarashiki Konosekai + The World Ends With You EP and full length album and The World Ends With You - Crossover.  The fact that Square Enix had enough faith in both the game and the music to warrant this kind of a musical release for a stand alone original game, that wasn't part of a franchise is pretty awesome.

Granted Takeharu Ishimoto had previously worked with Square Enix before as both a synth programmer and composer since the 1999 release of The Legend of Mana.  That being said, I am only familiar with Ishimoto's compositions for Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and Dissidia: Final Fantasy, both of which I have very much enjoyed.

In my Initial Review I said that the music was somewhat remeniscent of the music that you might find in Atlus' Shin Megami Tensei Persona series and, now having listened to the TWEWY soundtrack more extensively, I feel that that initial compassion was made because I was not very familiar with contemporary music in an RPG, let alone in a game from Square Enix.  It was very much welcome and I am very glad that the music remained the same from the Japan release to the North American release as it very easily could have been inundated or ever replaced with current popular artists from North America or other English speaking countries.  I do not really care that I can't understand seven eighths of what is beings sung since the majority of the the "sung" music is played during battles which last maybe 30 seconds.  The game even makes it a point to award higher points the faster you can complete a battle, so the music you do hear is only a very brief snip-it.  It wets your pallet for more and I often found myself letting the post battle score screen play for an extra minute to listen to the songs.

So the music.  The music is a very eclectic mix of hip hop, electronica, rock, hip rock hop, and a half dozen other genres that I don't think I'm very familiar with.  J-Pop most likely.  I don't really know, but that's not the point.  The point is, is that the majority of the music is very good and even if I wouldn't normally listen to Japanese hip hop, I like to listen to this soundtrack.  And like almost any soundtrack or compilation album, I don't like every song, but I don't hate any of them.

So now let me highlight a couple of my favorite songs off of the various soundtracks.

Déjà Vu (feat. Joanna Koike) from Subarashiki Konosekai + The World Ends With You full length album & EP:

This is one of the songs that plays while you're not in a battle, although like the battle music, you'll only hear snip-its of it unless you don't progress to another area and thus, another song.  

Hybrid from The World Ends With You Original Soundtrack:

Battle music and if you're lucky (or slow), you'll get to at least the first chorus by the end of the scoring screen after a battle, if it's the song that's playing during your last battle that is.

Transformation [Feat. Andy from Sixpin] from Subarashiki Konosekai + The World Ends With You full length album & EP:

This was probably my favorite battle music and although I have no idea who Andy or Sixpin is (although after an iminint Google search, I kind of now know), it's one of the tracks that falls more in a pseudo-rock genre than some of other songs on the both the album and the in-game soundtrack.

Some other songs that I won't link to, but that I really like are: 
"Calling"
"Someday"
"No Name [Secret Track]"
"Someday (Unplugged) Feat. Sawa"
"Twister Gang-Mix [Bonus Track]"
"Three Minutes Clapping Feat. J.D. Camaro"

I'm sure it will come as no surprise that I highly recommend the original soundtrack as well as the Subarashiki Konosekai + The World Ends With You full length album, the two which I have.  You don't even have to have played the game, the music is great on it's own.  Just peruse youtube for a while if you like what I've posted here.  I would recommend purchasing from the iTunes store as buying physical copies from Amazon will put you back ~$60-70 and there aren't any MP3 albums available.  I don't often endorse iTunes, but in this case, I couldn't justify to my bank account the expense to own the physical copy rather than the MP3 downloads.  I know, to some people I'm a very bad person, but that doesn't make the music any less awesome.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Any Earlier And It'd Be Too Late

A Picture and a Link

Check out this Mortal Kombat ad! Here's where I lifted it from:  

It8bit is a cool video game blog with a nice design aesthetic.  There's neat retro ads like the one above, and a section dedicated to indie games, including some of my favorites:  VVVVVV, Abobo's Big Adventure, and one I plan on playing soon - To the Moon. Also a preview of a new game called Riot that looks exciting and interesting.  

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Let's take a moment to reflect on the above advertisement. Apart from being kind of awesome, I want to establish some context. Mortal Kombat was a turning point in video game violence.  Prior to this, blood was something games tiptoed around, even games where the point of the game was to shoot people, or beat them into submission.  Still - not much in the way of blood.  Mortal Kombat had more blood in one punch than almost every previous game combined.  Its popularity led to the founding of the Entertainment Software Rating Board.  

But this is how they chose to advertise it?  Look at those kids, they're tiny, and still wearing gaudy 80's styles! Great scared expressions though. The tagline, while mentioning that it will hurt, also focuses on the game being 'so real.'  I guess this is a tip to the rendered photo graphics style.  But come on, the game was about blood and guts!  And generally pretty hokey looking gore, to tell you the truth, but gore nonetheless.  

I sometimes wonder how they even got the game into the arcades, and based on this advertising, I imagine they just, sort of, didn't mention the unprecedented levels of bloody violence.  Meh? 

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Thanks again to J.P.Bruneau for originally pointing me to this image. Go check out his tumblr, there's a link to an upcoming game called 'riot' that looks really.. wow!    

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oh, and here's a goofy little image mod I did for the blog:
-D

Full Review: The World Ends With You (DS) / Part I: Story & Game Mechanics

So I finally got around to it, hunkered down and finished The World Ends With You, which I've been playing for a good number of months now.  I've also been looking forward to composing this "Full Review."  However, during the last couple of days (both in-game and real life), I'd been feeling that a single post for this game would either not do the game itself justice, or it would become unwieldy and long, so I've decided to break the review up into the following parts:

I: The Story & Game Mechanics

II: The Music

I don't know what it has about writing this review, but it has taken me multiple starts over the course of a couple of weeks.  A large part is that the game did so well and that so much has already been written about the game that I didn't just want to be a rehash of the 265 million other articles out there.  At the same time, I knew that I had not discovered something brand new about this six year old game. So once I got beyond my own insecurities, I finally managed to complete the following posts.

I would also like to point out that at the very least, Part I will contain SPOILERS since I feel talking about the story in the game would be incomplete and I feel like I wouldn't be able to write it as effectively without bringing up at least a couple of SPOILERS.  This review will contain SPOILERS.  Now that that's out of the way. . .

The story. . . the story. . . {SPOILER} is a pretty dark one.  It revolves around a group of people who find themselves in a game put on by some supernatural organization calling themselves the Reapers where they take recently dead people and have them play for a second chance at life.  It may be that the people involved in the game had to have died in Shibuya, the area of Japan that the game takes place, I'm not sure.  Throughout the game, you're trying to figure out a number of things, one of those being who killed you, Neku, and how to survive the game.

Along the way, you meet up, and team up with various characters who all have varying degrees of personal issues.  There's the girl who doesn't like how she sees herself (who may have died from comitting suicide), there's the brother who didn't see his life going anywhere and along with his sister, die in a car accident, and a "boy" who turns out is the whole reason why you're there.

The game initially starts out like a typical Japanese RPG in that there's some confusion, then it's fighting monsters to "level up" and trying to "save the world," or in this case, saving your life.  As the game progresses, it becomes apparent that there's more to it than pseudo-cliche's in the form of characters.  For me, it was about the time you find out that your character, Neku is dead, along with everyone else, and that Shiki (the bubbly hyper-attractive girl) only looks the way she does is because she really liked the way she looked despite coveting another girl's appearance while she was alive.  It's a little more complicated than that, but that's the point of playing the game, or even reading a book, to find out for yourself and experience that great Keanu Reeves' "whoa" feeling.

There's a B-Story aspect too that I didn't explore too much.  In the game it's called "Tin Pin Slammer" and it's also the way that two people who own physical copies of TWEWY can "fight" each other.  The basic point is to knock the other players' Pins off a board by sliding them into each other.  Each Pin has a weight and a number of special attacks.  There was only one or two required Tin Pin Slammer battles that were required to progress the storyline, and I think that's all I really did.  Maybe I just need to play against human players.  Or not.

I talked a bit about how the battles are run in my Initial Review so I won't talk too much about how I button mash with the top character.  That tactic held true for the next two partners that join up with Neku, although with Beat, your third partner, his way of attacking was so initially difficult and confusing that I had to hand over his controls to the computer.  Only half way through Act III did I start taking control of Beat when I felt that I could do as good a job or better than the computer.  And that I wouldn't be killing myself by screwing up with Beat (both characters' life meters are connected so Beat could totally fuck things up while Neko remains untouched and you will still die).

While doing background for this article, I also discovered something new about the combat system that I did not know about while playing through the game.  With each of Neku's companions, if they complete/earn a certain number of Combo Stars, it allows them to perform a combo attack with Neku.  If you earn another combo attack before using the first earned combo, you get a level 2 combo which does a lot more damage.  This I thought was the max as I never seemed to earn anything beyond it.  Turns out you can earn a level 3 combo attack.  Huh.  Ah well, I still managed to defeat the final boss.

Let's talk about the Pins now.  The Pins are akin to Pokemon.  They're out there in the world, you want to collect them, level them up and everyone has their favorites.  They're what you use to cause damage or modify other Pins during combat.  Now the game has some pretty ingenious ways to level up your Pins and to gain experience.

1. Earn experience by defeating enemies
2. When you have the game turned off (not just closing the DS), you will earn experience for the amount of time you're away from the game.  I don't know the exact numbers, but it's something like Day 1: 144 ; Day 2: 100 ; Day 3: 70 and so on.
3. While the game is still running, but you're not playing, you can set the game to "Mingle" while enables you to "interact" with other WiFi signals, people playing other DS games, or people playing TWEWY.  You can "interact" with up to 10 signals before you have to accept those signals which are converted into exp and you have to re-select Mingle again.

Now, obviously, earning exp from enemies, in my opinion, is the best way to level up Pins.  The reason is that about half way through the game, you have 6 Pins to use during combat and they all have to have different ways to activate as the game will tell you that you can't equip two Pins that say, have you 'slash vertically on the noise.'  So you have 6 Pins, all with different effects and ways to execute their abilities.  That takes a bit of practice and memorization, especially when one Pin's abilities are recharging and you have five others to choose from.  

Options 2 and 3 for earning Pin experience are really only a good way to go if you have Pins that you have no interest in using and only want to level them up to complete your collection.  I can recall there only being a couple of Pins that I didn't like using, but felt dedicated enough to level them up to full.

At the moment, I think this about covers it.  I know, I know.  I didn't develop my thesis and my citations were a bit lacking.  And, I ended the first sentence of this paragraph with a pronoun.  I also feel that this review could go on a lot longer so I just need to nip it in the bud.  Part II: Music will be up this next Friday and while I can't promise that it will be a shorter length, I can promise that there will be music.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

I Should've Just Given Her A Name

Year in Review: Game Soundtracks

When thinking over the last year, since we started this blog, there's a few video game soundtracks this year that have gotten, and sometimes held, my attention.  Some are new, some are old, here are the video game soundtracks I've been listening to:

PPPPPP  (VVVVVV)
Souleye

VVVVVV soundtrack is fantastic.  The music really plays well into this game, helping to enhance the sensation of different atmospheric regions in a game that is very minimal, graphically. Case in point being the first time you leave the ship and go into the more open regions. The song for that region is sort of big and adventure-y. I got a feeling of invitation to explore, like in a zelda or metroid game.

I enjoyed PPPPPP so much that it spent a couple months of regular play on my  mp3 player.  Thank you to the Humble Bundles for including soundtracks as a regular feature of purchase.  What a great business model!

I've checked out some of SoulEye's other work, and unfortunately I haven't enjoyed it as much as PPPPPP.  This may be due to the sounds not having that 'lo-fi' edge, or it may be that the songs don't have an association with a game-environment, which has made the songs of PPPPPP more personal.

Bastion Original Sountrack

Darren Korb


the Bastion soundtrack is a really cool atmospheric blend of acoustic guitar and electronic music. I recommend this one, and I've listened to it a number of times.  The atmospheric blend of acoustic and electronic music works really well when I've got my mp3 player on random.  I feel like the moody grooves of the Bastion soundtrack will have a wide-reaching and long-lasting appeal.

I didn't play much of Bastion because it doesn't run that well on my computer - lots of slowdown.

Proteus Worms Present:  Nodeland Dreams and Memories (Proteus)
David Kanaga

Proteus soundtrack is very involved with the gameplay.  I don't think of it as something I'd want to put on my mp3 player to listen to at work - except, that might actually work.  Ideally, I would want recordings of someone actually playing the game, rather than some sort of generic soundtrack-thing or remix, a-la bit.trip.runner.  I believe Jaconion will be bringing more on that game's soundtrack to you.

This album is just one, ten-minute track, and was free to download with the game purchase at humblebundle.com - I've only just downloaded it, so I can't review it as a stand-alone item until I've given it a few listens.  I enjoy gushing about all things Proteus, so I'll be sure to give due attention to this soundtrack.

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A couple classic soundtracks that have been bouncing around in my mp3 player:

Mega Man I
Manami Matsumae & Yoshihiro Sakaguchi
Mega Man II
Takashi Tateishi, Manami Matsuma & Yoshihiro Sakaguchi
Mega Man III
Yasuaki Fujita

These sountracks are, like the games themselves, classic action game soundtracks.  Mega Man II gets lots of love, and it is well deserved.  Megaman III is nearly as good, but seems to have learned everything it knows from II.  I also has some catchy tunes, particularly Iceman, imo, and is interesting because the mold had not been settled yet on what Mega Man was to be.  (It even had a score)

Many thanks to my esteemed colleague, Jaconian, for turning me on to these and many other 8-bit soundtracks.  Without his hard work and research and others like him, I would have no idea how available video game music can be.  

Secret of Mana
Hiroki Kikuta

I really love the secret of Mana sountrack.  This one returns to rotation again and again.  I can just look at the cover art and listen to the soundtrack and I am brought to a happy place.  What I wouldn't give for an online remake of this game.

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Honorable Mention:  I downloaded the Super Brothers - Sword and Sworcery EP - soundtrack, by Jim Guthrie,  but I haven't actually listened to it.  Just one of those things I haven't gotten around to doing.  This doesn't bode well for the soundtrack - which initially made a good impression on me.  If I do end up listening to, and enjoying these songs, I'll be sure to post about it here.

First Impressions: Munchkin Apocalypse

Most recently to enter the World of Muchkin's ranks is Munchkin Apocalypse, which is the thirteenth iteration of  the classic Muchkin game.  This game was released back in late fall 2012 so it's had about six months of life so far.  Munchkin Apocalypse though uses nearly every satirical apocalyptic event and creature as cards in this game, from a Zombie Plague, to an Earthquake and a level 14 Huge Hyperintelligent Shark.  The game comes packed with 168 cards (92 Door and 76 Treasure), 12 Seal cards (which I'll get to in a moment) and an orange and green Munchkin die.  Oh, and a rule sheet.

The new variations to Munchkin Apocalypse are to the classes and there are no race cards, although there very well could be race cards such as "Mutant," "Human," "Zombie" or "Alien" in a future expansion.  Like any variation of Munchkin, there are curse-type cards which have been relabeled as "Disaster" cards, weapons and gear that everyone can equip and certain pieces that only the Scientist, Blogger, Militia or Kid class cards may be able to use.

What stands Munchkin Apocalypse apart from other base Munchkin sets is the inclusion of the Seal cards.  Yes, there is a drawing of a mammal seal that is part of the seal. . . seal.  Seal cards are similar to the Dungeon and Crypt cards in traditional Munchkin and Munchkin Cthulhu.  Whenever any card says to open a "Seal," you turn over one of the twelve cards and do what it says.  There's usually an effect that happens to the person who opens the Seal such as "The highest-Level player(s) go down a level."  Then there are continuing effects ("The highest-Level player(s) have a -3 penalty in combat.") as long as that one Seal is still on top of the Seal deck.  The continuing effects are only in effect as long as the card is on top of the Seal cards in play.

Seal cards can be "closed" which our group took to mean that they are placed back in the Seal deck.  The catch though with the Seal deck is that once the seventh Seal card is turned (by seventh, we took to mean, the seventh Seal opened and "in play," not counting the Seals that were closed), the game ends.  Then the person with the highest combat bonus with only the equipped cards they had in play, wins.  Levels do not count.  With the Seals though, hypothetically, a person at level one could win if they're equipped up the ass and just haven't turned over any monster cards, which happens at least once every game.

With all that in mind, the Seals added a new stratagem to how our usual Munchkin group (Conklederp, Coolman, Geroge I Am and one other person) played, which is usually let people progress without issue until about level seven or eight then people start backstabbing.  George I Am ended up winning after the seventh Seal was opened as she had a combat bonus of +21.  The game lasted just over an hour, which is pretty standard and we skipped a second game so that we could bottle some cider and maple wine.  Yes, we're those kinds of people.

In closing, I would recommend Munchkin Apocalypse to someone who's never played Munchkin before or for someone who is looking for another fun variation on the traditional Munchkin game.  You're not getting an entirely new and original game with all new rules, just a brand new repackaging of a fun and addicting game.  So yes, you should go out and buy it, or find someone else who already has.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Is 0 or 1 The Last Life?

First Impressions: Proteus

Wow.

Attention everyone:  Proteus is my new favorite game.  

You may remember this game as Crazy Atari Graphic Style First Person Game from my little shpiel on the PBS video The Creativity of Indie Games.  For a preview of this game, watch that video, as there are clips of it throughout.  Not to mention a bunch of other games I plan on trying.

Proteus is a game I would like to go on and on about.  But I would rather you play the game, and come talk to me, and then we can both go on and on about it.  For now I'll mention some facts:  It is available here, for $10.  I suggest you buy it.  It plays Mac and PC and Xbox 360 and is available on steam.   

Here's a picture:

The first impression I had was one of relief when I realized nothing in this game is trying to kill me.  

It is a first person game, and Jaconian: You will be happy to hear that you can invert the Y axis.  Generally, the menus are minimalist, so I am glad they included this little option.  The controls can be a little slippery, so I hope it doesn't trigger motion sickness. 

Here's another pic:

If you go to the website for the game, you can download it.  You can also read all sorts of acclaim for Proteus.  It's all true, but I think, rather then spending your time reading that, you should just buy it, play it, get your significant other to play it, if you have one.  

I think you could probably buy this game as a valentines present and get away with it.  More pics:

I've put in about two hours, and I'd like to put in some more. 

I want to also mention that this game does an excellent job of mixing the music, sounds and graphics together.  If I had to sum up the effect in one word it would be: Pleasant.  I think this game might be a really good winter time game, and there's not much winter time left, so download it now.  Thanks.  And you're welcome!

-D

Or Something Like It

There are a couple of video game related sites that I visit, some on a regular basis and others that I'll visit when I suddenly remember that I haven't been there in a few weeks.  Then there're the handful that I remember existing that I visited for a while, but that was on a different computer that contains years worth of bookmarks that I no longer have access to.  Like the current trends with cellphones, I no longer remember phone numbers or actual website address, I just have them either bookmarked or I just have to type in the first three letters and auto fill in does the rest.

When I do visit aforementioned sites, the large ones like Penny-Arcade, Kotaku, Red vs. Blue, these are professional sites that have some sort of connection to the side of the gaming industry that actually make the games.  I really try to stay away from these places when I know that I have an article to write.  It would be like wanting to do a drawing or sketch and right before you pick up that box of colored pencils, you go for a walk through the Louvre.

I don't visit Penny-Arcade to look for inspiration when it comes to writing articles and god knows I have a closet full of ideas up in that attic I call a brain, but if I find inspiration while reading, that's perfectly valid and not at all guilt ridden.  I might be listening to the Rooster Teeth Podcast and they'll be talking about something to do with early SNES games and I'll think, "Yeah, that was pretty cool.  I'm going to write about that!"  I won't though, listen to them looking for inspiration.  Yes, I just used "looking" to describe the act of listening.

Given the somewhat short history of this blog, you may have found that Dr. Potts and I do not do a lot of reviews of current games.  Neither the good Dr. or I have any of the current generation of consoles although I do have a 3DS and we both play a fair amount of games via Steam, the majority of the games that I tend to purchase are not "new."  

However, with that in mind, I don't think that we are any less relevant.  Pretty much everyday I'll look at the statics and information about our site and how people came here and I'm always excited when I see that there were multiple searches for Amnesia ~ Justine ~ or Dr. Potts' post about Hiroo Isono's artwork.  

And as far as video game related posts go, here are a few that may be showing up in the next couple of weeks:

• Two part Full Review for The World Ends With You
• First Impressions for :
• Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
• The Art of Balance - Touch
• Dead Space
• Shatter
• Music Reviews for:
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Actraiser
• Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest
• Bit.Trip.Runner: Game vs. Soundtrack
• Hitoshi Sakimoto: Final Fantasy Tactics vs Final Fantasy XII
• Emulator Hours for:
• Metroid II: Return of Samus (Separate from Dr. Potts' post)
• One Year Later: 3DS

So as you can see, I've got some ideas for topics to discuss.  Are they the same topics that other video game related sites are talking about and discussing?  Probably not, but it's what we do.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Taking Yoda's Words To Heart

Water, Water Everywhere. . .

It now happens to be that wonderful time of the year again.  Not a time that only comes once a year, but one that happens over and over and over again.  And this, happens to be one of those times.  It's the time between finishing a game and picking up a new one to play.  I just finished The World Ends With You and a "Full Review" is on it's way and now I'm trying to decide, not only which game to play, but which system to play this unchosen game on.  We'll list the top contenders:

PC

Dead Space:  I've played about 30 minutes of this game about a month or so ago and I'd like to keep at it, but not because of the impending Dead Space 3 release on the horizon.

Penumbra: Black Plague:  Having finished the first game in this trilogy, I want to continue the story.

Anna:  A game that I picked up during Steam's Winter Holiday Christmas sale.  The trailer looked interesting and the game looked fun, despite some of the negative reviews.

I Am Alive:  Giving my like towards most things post-apocalyptic and that Steam had this game on sale, I did do the purchasing thing, but have yet to do the playing part.

DS/3DS

Dragon Quest VI:  I finished DQV a while back and I really want to play this and then play Dragon Quest IX.

Scribblenauts Unlimited:  As mentioned in my previous post, I played SU for about 30 minutes just to get a feel for the game, and because I just bought it and it arrived in the mail.  I might be able to get away with playing this on the side and not devoting chunks of time as I normally would with another game.

Infinite Space:  A game released by SEGA that I'd been on the lookout for for a number of years and only recently acquired.  A game, as far as I understand, where you can build, outfit, modify your own spaceship that apparently has a pretty steep learning curve, which is always a fun/frustrating challenge.

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box:  I've played the first game and thought it was as much fun as I'd heard.  Puzzles are awesome, except sliding box puzzles and how the game explained why you had to do puzzles at every step was pretty smart.  Part 2 is calling.

PSP

Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together:  I bought this game around December 2011, played it for an hour or so and then relinquished my PSP to Conklederp so she could play Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions.  I really liked of what little I played and I really want to continue.

Silent Hill: Origins:  I started playing this game for an hour or two and I think I got myself stuck.  This was before I realized that I was supposed to kill every monster on screen and running away is a legitimate strategy.

God of War: Ghost of Sparta:  I really liked the first PSP game in the God of War series (although maybe I should try and defeat the final boss first).

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona:  I started this game about I don't know how many months back and got stuck/lost when I was supposed to go somewhere and I couldn't find out where the building was in which quadrant of the city.  I didn't look online as I thought it was too early to revert to using Gamefaqs, but I'd like to try again before deciding to abandon the game.

So as you can see, I have a problem, very much in the First World category.  I may also have a problem with buying games and not playing them fast enough.  Or, I just happen to like games that take a lot of time to complete in lieu of shorter games like Super Mario Bros. which I can (or at least used to) complete multiple times in about an hour.

Let the voting begin.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

All In All, Chad's A Good Guy

Creativity of Indie Games: Big list of Games

1. Owlboy - http://www.owlboygame.com/  - unfinished - pc - free demo
2. Fez - http://fezgame.com/ - is xbox live exclusive
3. Botanicula - http://botanicula.net/ - windows, mac, linux - 10$ - free online demo - adorable*
4. Gunpoint - http://www.gunpointgame.com/  - windows, maybe more later.  unfinished
5. Proteus - http://www.visitproteus.com/  - atari looking game - $10 - steam, mac and windows
6. Coin - http://www.create-games.com/newspage.asp?id=3624 windows, free
7. Scrumbleship - http://www.scrumbleship.com/ unfinished, kickstarter - demo - windows, mac, linux
8. Spelunky - http://spelunkyworld.com/  free on Windows, version 2.0 on xbox live
9. Limbo - http://limbogame.org/  windows, steam, xbox, mac - reviewed
10. Bastion - http://supergiantgames.com/?page_id=242 - xbox, windows, steam, chrome, mac, linux, ipad
11. Castle Crashers - http://www.castlecrashers.com/ - xbox, psn, steam.  Brawler, 4 players, fun.
12. Journey - http://thatgamecompany.com/games/journey/ ps3 exclusive.  Great game.  
13. The Iconoclasts - http://www.konjak.org/index.php?folder=4&file=30 - unfinished. free alpha download. windows. 
14. Don't Blow It! http://dinomage.com/dontblowit/  unfinished.  dinomage is a great name.
15. Amelia vs. The Marathon - http://www.troubleimpact.com/ - unfinished - intended for iOS, Android, Nook, Kindle Fire
16. Lost Marbles - http://binarytakeover.com/lostmarblesredux.html - unreleased, can vote for steam release with steam greenlight
17. Terraria - http://www.terraria.org/ - steam - 2d minecraft
18. Negative Nimbus - http://www.negativenimbus.com - android, iOS
19. Zombox - http://www.zombox.net/ - unreleased - ios and hopefully steam and android
20. Braid - http://braid-game.com/ - xbox360, windows, steam, [impulse, gamers gate]
21. Superbrothers: Sword and Sorcery EP - http://www.swordandsworcery.com/ - android, iOS, windows, steam - reviewed
22. Mark of the Ninja - http://www.markoftheninja.com/ - xbox, steam
23. Super Meat Boy - http://supermeatboy.com/ - xbox, steam, windows, mac, linux
24. Rawbots - http://www.rawbots.net/page/rawbots - windows, mac os, looks interesting
25. The Splatters - http://spikysnail.com/ - xbox, coming soon to Mac, Windows, Linux
26. Legend of Grimlock - http://www.grimrock.net/ - Windows, steam
27. Bit Trip Runner - http://bittripgame.com/bittrip-runner.html - Mac, Windows, steam, Wii
28. SpellTower - http://www.spelltower.com/ - Mac, iOS
29. Bit Pilot - http://www.bitpilotgame.com/ - iOS, coming soon for Mac
30. Pid - http://www.pidgame.com/ - xbox, playstation, steam, Mac, Windows [gog, rain dg, gamer sgate]
31. Reset - http://reset-game.net/ - unfinished, Windows
32. Minecraft - https://minecraft.net/ - Android, iOS, Xbox, Java
33. The Binding of Isaac - http://store.steampowered.com/app/113200/ - Steam, Windows, Mac, Linux, Playstation
34. World of Goo - http://www.worldofgoo.com/ - Steam, Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, iOS, Wii
35. Osmos - http://www.hemispheregames.com/osmos/ - Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, iOS
36. Tiny Wings - http://www.andreasilliger.com/ - iOS
37. God of Blades - http://whitewhalegames.com/godofblades.html - iOS
38. Prison Architect - http://www.introversion.co.uk/prisonarchitect/ - Windows, Mac OS, Linux
39. Dear Esther - http://dear-esther.com/ - Steam, Windows, Mac
40. Corpse Garden - http://www.freeindiegam.es/2012/06/corpse-garden-fei/ - Windows, Mac
41. Amnesia: The Dark Descent - http://www.amnesiagame.com/#main - Steam, Windows, Mac, Linux
42. The Moonlighters - http://raddragongames.wordpress.com/the-moonlighters/ - Unfinished
43. Dungeons of Dredmor - http://www.gaslampgames.com/ - Steam, Windows, Mac, Linux
44. Faster Than Light - http://www.ftlgame.com/ - Windows, Mac, Linux
45. Today I Die - http://www.ludomancy.com/games/today.php?lang=en - flash game, played in browser - poetic
46. The Snowfield - http://gambit.mit.edu/loadgame/snowfield.php - Windows, Mac
47. Symon - http://gambit.mit.edu/loadgame/summer2010/symon_play.php - Windows
48. I Wish I Were The Moon - http://www.ludomancy.com/blog/2008/09/03/i-wish-i-were-the-moon/ - flash game, played in browser
49. Passage - http://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/passage/ - Windows, Mac, iOS
50. The Dream Machine - http://www.thedreammachine.se/ - Steam, Windows, Mac
51. Ico - http://www.icothegame.com/ - Playstation 2

I took this list from the information section on this youtube video: The Creativity of Indie Games from the pbs youtube channel.  I hope they don't get mad at my for lifting the list, and I hope I'm citing it appropriately.  

I've made notes on each game, mostly the operating system(s) the game is available for, and occasionally price and miscellaneous comments.  I've marked when a game is available on steam, though technically that is not an operating system.  There has been talk of a steam console: Piston.  

I write a little bit about the accompanying video in my previous post.