The Video Game Revue

Looking Forward...

Let's explore some miscellaneous news that I have the impulse to post about. MGS4 aside, I've been somewhat in a gaming lull lately, not that I'm unhappy about that. It's given me the chance to dive into some random stuff like Monster Hunter Freedom and Etrian Odyssey. Fun fact: I bought Etrian Odyssey when it was still relatively new and only just started playing it last week--that is, just before the release of the sequel. I probably would have started it a lot earlier if I'd ever gotten around to finishing Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja. At least I made it pretty far with that one.

News item #1: Dunno if I mentioned this earlier, but Left 4 Dead looks amazing. I love Valve's products, and I tend to love zombie-themed action games (although I haven't played Dead Rising yet... wtf!) so right there I'm already pretty excited. What really drives me over the top here is that Valve sounds serious about trying to be innovative and refine the mechanics of multiplayer gaming with Left for Dead, so instead of getting Half-Life 2 deathmatch with zombies, we may actually see something special here. I'm stoked.

News item #2: Schizoid. It's a psychological disorder, but also the name of a new Xbox Live Arcade game. Looks like a trippy knock-off of Geometry Wars, but with co-operative gameplay. There's potential there.

News item #3: Not so much a news item here as a question: is Final Fantasy Tactics A-2 worth my time or not? A large part of me thinks, "meh, I'm disenfranchised with new Final Fantasy games, especially this one." A small, but still loud part of me says, "it's FINAL FANTASY." Gabe (from Penny Arcade) seems to really like it. I guess I'd better wait to see what Fritzkrieg says about it.

News item #4: Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD is out as a beta release on XBLA. I'll be trying to grab it soon. I doubt that I'll be able to keep up with the level of competition online, but it sure looks amazing.

News item #5: Blizzard sure is cruel with their latest teaser campaign. Personally, I think they're going to announce the release date for WotLK. I do hope that they're listening to the community, though, and realize just how desperate some people are to hear that the next Diablo is on the way.

News item #6: Tycho (from Penny Arcade) brought up Instant Action and their browser plug-in based game, Fallen Empire: Legions. If you're into tribes, then this is indeed worth your time as Tycho suggests. I love how simple this game is to start playing, and it really shows the potential that a web-based Quake could have.

News item #7: Gamasutra reports that Xenogears and Einhander are coming to PlayStation Network. Of course, this means that there's some real hope of seeing these games become available in North America once more.

I probably missed a few things, but that's enough for now. :)

posted by Parappa @ 2:41 PM