Just about anybody who knows me personally as a gamer knows of my affinity for rail shooters. It has always been a genre I've found to be special, a genre I have much respect for, and a genre in which some its games are my favorite and most memorable ever.

I think the game that started it all for me was the original Star Fox for the SNES. I game I wanted as a kid for a reason I just can't explain. There was just something about it that appealed to me. I guess you could say I simply have a natural affinity for the gameplay, a genuine interest that I did not voluntarily desire.

Over the years I have had some of the funnest, most memorable and most satisfyingly challenging gameplay experiences in my life through rail shooters, especially with the Raiden series. Years ago, back in the days of the great console I know as the Sega Dreamcast, I remember seeing a brief video of a certain rail shooter. I didn't have to see much before I realized the gameplay drew very deep interest with me. To make matters more pleasantly surprising, the developer of the game is known for making a previous absolutely outstanding contribution to the genre, in fact, the game I so deeply wanted to play happened to be the spiritual successor of that very game. The developer was a company called Treasure, the predecessor's title is the c.lassic Radiant Silvergun, and the game I am talking about now is Ikaruga.

Now keep in the mind the time frame of just post-prime of the Sega Dreamcast until now. It was during that time I wasted little time getting the import of the game as a NA version was never made for the Dreamcast. And indeed, I remember playing that first level, I remember getting feeling that I perceive to be a sign of excellently designed gameplay challenge. I remember being unable to make it halfway past the first level of the game...I remember loving every second of my short-lived attempts.

Now honestly, there are few games that I've played that are solid in their design such that the level of challenge in the gameplay actually challenges me instead of turning me off, Ninja Gaiden is one of them, Ikaruga. Regardless of my numerous failed attempts to progress through this seemingly impossible-to-beat game, not once did the thought ever cross my that this game was too hard, as ironic as it sounds. And thus, not once did I ever entertain the thought of giving up.

With Ikaruga, I made a pact with myself that I can't remember ever doing before with any difficult game, I told myself, now matter how long it takes, no matter how many times I have to try, one day, i'm gonna beat this game. That was back in the days of the Dreamcast. Since then I eventually bought the GCN version so that I could read the text as my Japanese was not nearly good enough back then, and I bought the XBLA version the day it was released primarily for the beautiful HD visuals and the Xbox Live co-op. And not once all these years have I stopped playing this game, it has been without a doubt the most consistent and long-lived title on my Now Playing list ever.

Now yes, I can see how it may seem a bit pitiful that it took so long to build my skills with to where they are are. Of course, I have played (and beaten) many other games through this time. I have experienced the game over three different consoles, over multiple generations, and indeed, the game was not always front and center of my gaming focus. But never did any active version of the game collect dust. And regardless of how often I played it, the essential thing to understand about Ikaruga is that, perhaps more than at least the majority of other modern rail shooters out there (easily moreso than any others i've played), the game absolutely demands solid (practically flawless) reflexes, thorough knowledge of the levels and bosses, and true, hard-nosed, raw skill. This game is expertly designed such that if you're at least moderately lacking in any of those qualities, chances are very good that you will fail.

I remember when I first tried going co-op over Live. It simply presented 1 benefit. Everyone I played with died out me before reaching the end of the second level, most died out before reaching the end of the first level. And with shared continues, that meant I always ended up with my one set of lives to get through the entire game, that wasn't going to work out. Now of course, thats not the benefit i'm talking about it. The benefit was (and I really don't mean to be arrogant when I say this) seeing the stark contrast in adeptness to the game. It'd proven to me that my dedication to the game over the years has resulted in true development of my skills with the game, and gave me the confidence that I was definitely moving forward, so I decided to return to going at it alone.

A few days ago, I hit a big a milestone. I finally made it to the last level of the game after barely beating the boss of the level before that as I oh so desperately (verbally) begged to die moments before it did. For first time ever, after all these years, my eyes witnessed the final level of the game. Sure enough, with only one last life remaining, it was over shortly after it began. By that time, i'd been able to get through the first three levels fairly effectively, and I knew it was the level 4 boss that that bottlenecked my lives and practice on those final level should be my focus. I ended up not doing much of either.

Just today (Sunday), I completed Tales of Symphonia (my first ever Tales game) and finished Frequency, freeing up a share of my gaming focus. I'd planned to "transition" to my 360 after completing Tales of Symphonia, and spent a lot of the day pondering if i'd play Viva Pinata, Dead Rising or both. One thing lingered in mind as well: "i'm close...maybe I should practice".

Some of you may know that G4 aired the documentary, The King of Kong today. I watch the first have during its initial air and the second half during its encore. One scene that has stayed with me since seeing the end *spoiler*


was the one that showed Steve Wiebe, after the disappointing lack of return challenge from the then King of Kong, returned home disappointed, but most importantly, did not give up. He kept playing the game, and sure enough, he broke the record.


*end spoiler*


The key value I took from seeing that is the idea that persistence can pay off. That thought hasn't left my mind all night.

After popping in Viva Pinata and boy, getting sucked into the game and not wanting to stop, I eventually got myself to stop in order to work on my projects. I returned to the dashboard, but before I could turn the system off. A voice inside me simply said one thing: "lets just give it one shot".

No practice, no special preparation, lets just give it one shot. One attempt, then I'm turning the system off.

Playing through the game, self-discourse runs through my head:

"Wow you're flawless so far, you may just beat it"
"Just stay cool, don't think, just play"
"I have to think to think that"
"Just play the darn game"
*Killed by stray dot from the mental distraction*
"That was a stupid death"
"Its just one life total so far, I got plenty"
"I need every life I can get it"
"Stop thinking, just play the darn game"

Thankfully, from that point, I was able actually able to stop thinking and just play. I was so cool in fact (and playing so well as the same time) that I felt like I was playing like an expert on the game. I don't think I'd ever played the game so "carefree" before in my entire experience with it. So much so that I didn't know how many continues I had left going into the final stage...and I didn't care too much either. I didn't bother to look during the couple times I died before reaching the final boss, heck I didn't even bother to look when I died fighting the final boss.

The final task of the Ikaruga....is not on rails and it doesn't involve shooting. The final take task of Ikaruga...is survival for 1 minute. An on-screen timer shows this, and when I lost a life during this task, a loss that required the use of a continue, it was then that I finally noticed, I was on my last one...and then I wasn't calm anymore. A very noticeable thumping began in my chest.

My first time ever reaching it that far, 1 stock, 1 minute, 1 shot. Survival. For so many years I'd been working to get this point. Survival. For so long I persisted in my pact. Survival. Never did I give up. Survival...and I survived.

lol, been a little while since I stopped reading Gamespot staff reviews, huh? Well, the last few months I haven't even been on Gamespot all that much due to a Winter semester that was much busier than my Fall semester. Speaking of critic reviews, my recent playthrough of Legend of Dragoon helped me to take a very progressive mentality towards my self-confidence in game judgement. I actually blogged on this on my main software blog and its one of the most recent entries there if you care to read it. Why I didn't post it here? I dunno...

Anyway, yesterday Sony sent a number of GAP members an invitation to join the Metal Gear Online Beta. It appears even among the subset of us that recieved invitations there were a limited number of allowed acceptions as some were actually denied upon accepting it.

Kinda funny how all of a sudden, i'm finally using my PS3 for something other than a demo kiosk and Blu-Ray player. (I have a number of PS3 games now, I just haven't gotten around them, yet). I recently finished Heavenly Sword, the first full (as in non-demo) PS3 game I've played.

For starters, MGO both looks and sounds great. I dunno if Harry Gregson-Williams composed the music for this or not, but its is of the same essence as Sons of Liberty and Snake Eater. Its very strong and a cool thing is that it blends superbly into the gameplay.

The first things you do is create an in-game persona and customize him..../her?!? lol, now that I think of it, I don't remember if there are female soldiers in the game. Don't take that as final, I simply don't remember if it was an option. But anyway, there are number of ways to customize your gear and give your character (the game refers to them as PCs so i'll do the same) a least some degree of uniqness. You can also customize the skills your character specializes in such as handgun, CQC (Close Quarters Combat), sniping, etc. For example, having a hangun specialty gives your character further accuracy with further range with hanguns in auto-aim mode. CQC I believe is necessary to perform those moves, and I believe sniping allows more precise aiming/less hand shaking.

If you're experienced with the MGS series then this game, control-wise, is practically pick-up-and-play. The only thing I really had to get used to (and still am a bit) is the auto-aim toggling. You actually have 3 degrees of precision when firing a weapon. Auto-aim is self-explanatory. The (IMO, necessary) tradeoff is you have to be reasonably close to your enemy and you have to be properly facing them. Your view and aiming doesn't solidly lock on so one can still evade auto-aimed fire. Without auto aim there is the default over-the-shoulder view and you're given a targeting reticle, and then there's the familiar first person mode which is just like the MGS games.

Now I haven't played many online combat games recently, but I did play the heck outta of SOCOM back on PS2 and the general feel of this easily reminds me of it. Thats not a bad thing, though. Most of the modes seem to be practically your standard online warfare: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, a Domination-type mode, etc. I haven't played them all yet, but from reading their descriptions, none seem really far from what you've seen before. Now this is not to say the gameplay isn't fun because its quite the opposite.

So far i've played about an equal amount of Team Deathmatch and the Domination mode. One of the first I felt about the gameplay is that the game does a great job of creating an exciting, sometimes intense warfare atmosphere similar to the look, sound, and feel of the movie Black Hawk Down. Again, the game looks and sounds great. If this game's visuals are any indication (and they probably are) then MGS4, especially in HD, will be quite the eye-candy. Now imagine that epic action-orient MGS music blending in to the warfare. You end up with quite an exciting atmosphere.

Interacting with your squad is pretty cool. You have your standard dose of general pre-recording messages you can send, but the game also supports voice chat (which hardly anybody I played with used), and the ability to customize messages. There's a really cool system where you can virtually "link" up with any number of your squadmates. If you press and hold triangle, you establish a virtual link with any number of allies within a certain radius. What this link allows you to do is see an almost heat-signature type representation of their location, orientation and status from just about anywhere on the map. You can tell if they're under fire and near death.

Now one area of the gameplay I feel deserves special mention is the execution of CQC. Man pulling off CQC moves on somebody can be one of the coolest, funniest, most awesome...and humilating things in the game, lol. Man you can't imaging the feeling I got when I first snuck up behing an enemy, grabbed him, slammed him to the ground then pumped him full of lead!....but I also remember running through a corridor in a building, thinking there's nobody close, and just before I reach an exit, someone hiding in the shadows grabs me by the neck and chokes me to sleep. He left me there, likely because I was in a deep daze and I'd ultimately have to lie there knocked out longer then if he killed me and I respawned. Now you probably know about the spinning stars thing around your head. Well when you're in this state, all you can do is waggle the left thumbstick to speed up the process of waking up....or one or more of your comrades can find you, especially if you're linked, and they can come and shake you to help you snap out of it....just like one of my comrades did for me. I found that pretty cool.

Adding to the dynamic of the gameplay is the fact that you can pull off most if not all of Snake's moves. I mean hey, hide in a box if you want. As a matter of fact, in the domination mode, one of my comrades did that while camping in the territory to capture it and I don't think anyone noticed, lol! You can line prone underneath a truck and try to pick people off, and i've personally snuck into a territory by way of hanging off a ledge, shimmying across and jumping down.

Performance-wise, the game has been solid for the most part. My first match did end up getting broken up due a broken connection. Not sure why as I the host is able to leave the game and transfer hosting duties to someone else. In another game, there was a very brief connection issue (this time I think it actually was the host leaving) but then the game picked right back up where it left off. I guess the most important thing is, while the game is actually running, I NOTICED NO LAG WHATSOEVER. Save for those two interruptions, this game performs online just as well as it would over a lan. I guess you can probably take that with a grain of salt as the servers aren't really being stressed right now. There aren't are a tremendous number of people playing this game yet so I can only speak for the game in its current degree of use.

Overall, Metal Gear Online is a pretty solid and fun game. It definitely has a Black Hawk Down feel to it that makes it exciting. If any of you have been anticipating it, I think this game will probably justify.

Then i'll always remember Lunar: Dragon Song for being the last Gamespot review i'll ever read. I'm both happy and sad to hear about this news.

1. I'm very sad that Jeff lost his job for doing his job (without corruption). I have not always agreed with his reviews, but i've always respected the fact that he was never afraid call a game the way he sees him without bowing to fanboys and hype. I've defended him in this forum for that whenever I could (most recently with The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Virtua Fighter 5).

2. I'm happy I can now solidify my suspicion of corruption in the game media which, if all the allegations are true, exists within Gamespot. I'm sorry Jeff's job had to be sacrificed to expose this but I hope he realizes the benefit this has done for consumers who once trusted the press to be honest, unbiased, and without publisher/marketer influence.

I hope this will ultimately lead to Jeff moving on to a better place to express his opinion without being pressured to be dishonest.

As for Gamespot, they've lost just about all credibility with me now with game judgement and the only reviews I will ever consider here are player reviews written by those who have a reputation with me to put actual effort and formal judgement into them, my friends', and my own.

To Gamespot, thank you for exposing yourself.

Completion time approximately 70 hours (and this is with a mostly story-focused quest). I believe this is the officially the longest play-time it has ever taken me to complete an RPG. (And yes, like I said before, completing Final Fantasy X-2 100% didn't even take me this long)

I'm kinda sorry to say that my conclusive impression of this game is not much in line with the general reception of the game. This was not only one of the less enjoyable Final Fantasies i've played through, it was one of the less enjoyable RPGs i've played in a while. Quite frankly, but the time I completed the game (end credits are scrolling as I type this), I was pretty sick of it. I know it seems a lot of people really like this game, but for me, the battle system was a huge drag, the story was downright boring (i'll be so harsh to say, frankly, the story sucks anus), the art style is un-appealing to me and turned me off similar to how Final Fantasy IX's did, Ivalice is boring, other than Ashe the characters are not very memorable, and the boss battles are not legimiately challenging, they are legitmately cheap and annoying!!!

By the time I finished the game, I really couldn't stand it anymore. Now as harsh as i'm being, i'm not saying this is a horrible game, it isn't. There is just so much about this game that doesn't flow well with me and turned me off. I won't compare this game directly to the pre-32-bit era Final Fantasy because so far i've only played the first two, but among all the traditional games in the series starting at VII, this one is easily the last one i'd pick up and play again.

Again, I realize a lot of people did like game, but for me and my tastes, Square Enix/Yatsumi Matusno dropped the ball on this one.

BTW, I recently completed Metroid Prime Hunters after beginning my quest through it probably a year ago, if not very early this year. I'm glad to be done with that game as well. The controls ultimately work, but at the same time, my hands cramped up so freakin' much there were periods especiallyd during boss battles where I had to just stop and put my DS Lite down for a bit to give my hands some relief. Also, due to the game controls by default, I really felt like I was wearing out my D-Pad and L Button so I just wanna to get the game overwith to stop to torture on my unit itself.

I recently got a piano black PSP-2000 (Lite) along with Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops. I already have a nice carrying case set that I got for pretty cheap, and i'm waiting on my Hori Screen Protector and Sony 4GB Pro Duo Memory Stick to come in. The carrying case set I got includes a screen protector but its from some brand i've never heard of and I don't trust it. Once that comes in and I complete Final Fantasy II and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (having a blast with that game thus far), then i'll jump into Liberty City Stories. Pretty excited about playing that. A sandbox game to take on the go!

And now after that lengthy and ultimately unsatisfying quest, I can turn me attention back to Halo 3 and later Resident Evil 4/Star Fox Assault. Especially after that 70 hour quest, i'm gonna try to play a string of games out of my backlog that'll likely take me 30 hours max to play through. After this game and when I eventually (finally) finish Final Fantasy II, I don't think i'll be jumping into another RPG for a while.

I've been playing this game since shortly after I beat Twilight Princess over the summer and man am I having a slow and thorough adventure. I know you can look my "Now Playing" list and you'll see quite a few including Dawn of Souls which has been pushed off the end of the visible list (which is unusual for me, ESPECIALLY since i'll soon add two more, LOL), but all those games except for Dead or Alive 4 and, of course, NCAA Football 08 are sitting in the back seat of car in terms of my gaming priority.

I feel like I wanna attribute this to the fact that I feel the difficulty is unbalanced. I've found it to be very easy to run into an area or reach a boss that, by normal progression and regular "level-up" intervals, is too powerful for your party to defeat. Sometimes these boss encounters are quite close to each other so its effectively a difficulty spike. I've been giving substance to my level grinding in the form of battle-heavy sidequests (in the form of hunting quests) which has worked out nicely. Still, in the process, i'm approaching hour 60 and I think I still have a ways to go. I can't think of any other Final Fantasy i've played that has taken me this long to get through a story-focused play-through. I don't even think it took me this long to play through Final Fantasy X-2, including my 100% completion run.

As a result, my backlog ever grows. As a matter of fact, I took advantage of Toys R Us's "Buy 2, Get the 3rd Free" deal and picked up skate. and Gears of War and got Metroid Prime 3: Corruption for free. Then I picked up Sonic Rush Adventure and Metal Gear Solid Portables Ops (i'm getting a PSP 2000 when the Piano Black version launches soon), and got the original Lego Star Wars for free. Seeing as I just found out a Lego Star wars compilation is coming out soon, i'm gonna try to take it back to tomorrow and exchange it for Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. Let me just say skate. is worth it, IMO. I hadn't been excited for a skateboarding game since Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. After playing the skate. demo, I was a sold. I've even played the Tony Hawk's Proving Ground demo and came away unimpressed compared to skate. I think the main thing to hooked me was the innovative control scheme which makes the tricks and the skateboarding in general feel much more intimate and realistic. It also, IMO, requires more skill pull off and chain tricks. Seriously, after playing Proving Ground, i'll take skate's control any day. The recording feature is mega cool as well. And from what i've read of the online features, i'll enjoy taking advantage of Xbox Live with this game.

So skate. is one of those two games that i'm just gonna start playing regardless of my slow progress with Final Fantasy XII. The other, as you may guess...will be Halo 3. I won't be able to help it. I'll be playing this game the day I get my hands on it. And boy do I almost fear the day I finish the campaign mode, because I remember how much I was sucked into Halo 2's multiplayer. It was one thing when I played freelance, its was an ENTIRELY NEW LEVEL (i'm talking NCAA Football-esque obsession) when I joined a highly skilled clan and we very competently competed in clan matches. I don't really like to brag, but we were a tough group to beat. We won way more than we lost. I'm looking forward to that with Halo 3, and with online 4-player co-op to boot....oh boy...This game will likely be on my Now Playing list for quite a darn while. I won't be surprised if i'll be playing this game online through console's lifespan.

And oh yeah, regarding my portable gaming. Some of you may remember, that i'm on a quest to complete every mainstream Final Fantasy. I beat the original quite a while ago, and retroactively, i've been stuck on II for quite a while. The fact is, my whole gaming life suffered while I was trudging through that tornado of a semester last year. I was actually playing my DS more than anything (in between classes, etc), but that time was mostly dominated by Tetris DS. That game has so much substance that i'm still not tired of it and probably never will be. I've recently gotten myself out of that slumped. My long hiatus resulted in me being disoriented with where I was and what I was supposed to be doing in both Final Fantasy II and Metroid Prime: Hunters so I had to consult GameFAQs on what to do. I estimate i'm about halfway through Final Fantasy II but i'm surprisingly pretty close to the end of Hunters (I only have one more thorough task to do and its all downhill from there). My Final Fantasy quest hiatus has actually been a good thing as it has assured me now that i'll be playing remakes of III-VI whearas before I may have bought the GBA ports.

Well I guess this blog is big enough. I guess this is what happens when you wait too long to update, so i'll try to be more frequent in the future. If you look at my profile you'll see Halo 3 on my already rediculous Now Playing list by the end of the month. It would be great if I could legitimately take Final Fantasy XII off by then. If not...well...lets just say its stay on the list will likely be prolonged. I'm not too concerned about many others like Fight Night, Rumble Roses XX (don't laugh, I honestly have a blast with the game and got it for cheap), NCAA Football 08, Dead or Alive 4, and now skate. They're what I consider to be "idle" games. By that context, I mean they're not really games that involve some kind of deep "quest". Moreso, they're games I just pick up and play whenever I feel like it. I still play them all (obviously), but Halo 3, again, will likely reduce that frequency.

You know what, in hopeful preparation/anticipation for that day, I think i'll go play Final Fantasy XII now!

EDIT: Haha! The Gamespot server programming sympathizes we me. The "Final Fantasy XII" entry on my Now Playing list has been specifically glitched out!

EDIT Again: Bah! Its back!

I just got a very rude awakening as a result of not reading a whole lot into this game. For the past few iterations of this series i've traditional began by playing the Race for the Heisman/Campus Legend mode first. I'd experience that mode thoroughly and get a fundamental feel for the game first, then jump into the ever-addictive Dynasty mode. Now the Dynasty mode itself for one thing is great, fun, and like I said, addictive, but a LARGE reason for my immersion and intimacy with the mode is the Create-A-School mode through which i'd create a school from scratch, put myself in as the coach, and coach the program into a Dynasty.

Having the feeling of building a program from the ground up into a perennial powerhouse is by far the most satisfying and addicting benefit i've ever found playing this series. And for some extremely odd/boneheaded reason, (and like I said, I didn't read too much into the game so i'm just now finding this out...) EA HAS OMITTED CREATE-A-SCHOOL MODE FROM THIS GAME!!!! WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Create-A-School/Dynasty was the heart and soul of my enjoyment of this series and EA just cut half of it out!!! I freakin' couldn't believe it when I just today searched through the menus and discovered it wasn't there!!! I'm still in shock right now and I can't even play the game right now! It really disgusts me!

....The Dynasty mode itself is still there and i'm sure I can find enjoyment in (I guess) just coaching Michigan. But...I know this without a doubt it my mind, playing Dynasty like this will NOT live up, it will not be on the same level of enjoyment for me...and this really sucks. I was looking forward to this since the day I bought the game....

For this year at least....I guess I won't be coaching the Big Ten Powerhouse Cerebral V-Warriors to rivalry victories against the West Virginia Mountaineers (a rivalry that started back in 06 when the V-Warriors emerged victorious from a litterally 10+ overtime thriller against the Mountaineers), Big Ten Championships and (BCS) Bowl Championship. There will be no recruiting of top-level prospects to coach into All-American and Heisman Trophy Winning V-Warriors. And there will be no satisfying feeling of building a program from the ground up and leading them through perennial dominance. No....not this year......

Why did you take this out EA! WHY!!!?!?!?!

...............