Top 5 DS games no one plays

So, I thought it would be a good time to take a break from comics, and look at some games.

Of all the recent consoles, my favourite by far has to be the DS. Otherwise its the PS2 which i still use more than my ps3. Any console with an SMT game on it really....

Anyway, heres a count down of my top 5 DS games that you really should play, but probably havn't.

Not to borrow from GT or anything:

AT NUMBER 5

Lunar Knights (Konami)

This is a continuation, in a way, of Kojima's Botkai series. Its an action RPG set up very much like the original GB zelda. You have two characters, Lucien and Aaron. One controls darkness and the other light. This is a world of vampires and aliens. While not original, its all good fun and i heartily recommend it.

Number 4:

The World Ends With You (Sq'enix)

By far one of the best games on the platform, and possibly one of the best rpgs which dont have SMT in the title, of the past 5 years. Its an rpg with a twist. You control both bottom and top screens at the same time during battle, as the main character and your partner fight. While the combat mechanic is fresh, its the characters which make this a game above and beyond. Crazy maths dude shouting 'Zetta Slow' or whatever, or the excellent 'must...resist..emo...urges' say it all really.

At NUMBER 3:

Elite Beat Agents

Why havn't you played this? Or Ouendon?....there are no excuses.

Its a music rhythm game, you tap the circles in time in the correct numbered order (or slide, twirl, whatever) so the EBAs can dance to save who ever needs saving.

Is your Dog lost miles from Home? No problem! Dance can save them!

Is you casino being robbed? NO PROBLEM!

Aliens? NOOO PRRROOOBBLEEEEM

music ranges from the Rolling Stones, Hoobastank, Village People, Avril Lavine. All covers but great none the less. Personal favourite? Earth, Wind and Fire's 'September'

Number 2

Super Robot Taisen W

I can understand if you havn't played it. Its all in Japanese. Its pretty easy to play though.

Its a tactics game not unlike Advanced Wars mixed with Final Fantasy Tactics. Just shove in all the Anime Robot shows you can think of and thats it.

Whatever anyone may think, this game wins alone for having Red Astray and GAOGAIGAR in it....with the music and awesome planet killing attacks.

I played this for a whole year...most lvls take about 1/2-1hr and there are 52 of them.

think about it.

In at NUMBER 1

No surprise here i guess

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor

Okay okay I know. I'm hugely biased towards anything which has either Atlus on it or Shin Megami Tensei...but these games are beyond any other RPG on any platform. Especially story wise.

This game plays like a SRPG, think FFT or Disgaea. Your an 'average' kid with his friends who get stuck in Tokyo during what at first seems to be a blackout. The Army cordon off the area and you try and find a way out. The influence of TWEWY is quite strong, with the game taking place over 7 days and major things happen every day. There is no exploration as such, and time passes in a strange manner but it makes sense within the game. There are loads of other people to recruit to your party, each have their own ending (i think there are 7) which drastically effect the way the game plays, who you fight and what you end up with on your next play through. I went the Naoya route the first time...no contest for me there.

Another fantastic part of the game is the fusion aspect. Think Pokemon but fusing two together...and theyre demons. There are something like 120 demons in the game each with its own strength, weakness and powers. Gotta fuse em all.

So if you havnt played these games, and one pops up in your local HMV or something for £10..go buy it. Now. You wont regret it.

On the other side of the fence

I've been talking about mostly DC stuff for the past couple of posts, so let me briefly tell you about Marvel's side of things.

The similarities between the two major superhero universes actually belies a considerable difference. In humble opinion, while DC are the best people for writing 'home' or earth based stories, Marvel (Abnett, Lanning and Yost) blow DC out of the water when it comes to intergalactic stuff. As much as i like GL, Marvel's Nova, Annihilation, Guardians of the Galaxy and War of Kings are just..more interesting.

Geoff Johns and Dan Abnett are the scions of writing in these two universes at the moment. Of course you still have Carey, Millar and Bendis wandering around...but it seems those two guys have it locked up.

And Marvel have Rocket Raccoon

If you're wanting to jump on the cosmic marvel band wagon of latter day saints; i'd advise reading the following:

* Nova

* The Annihilation Crossover event

* War of Kings crossover event

* Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar empire

* Emperor Vulcan

* Infinity Gems saga

* Guardians of the Galaxy

* did i mention Nova?

* Darkhawk

not in that order

The current arc back on earth in ye olde 616 main marvel universe is Dark Reign.

After the events of the 'secret' skrull invasion last year, Norman Osbourne (ie The Green Goblin) has become the CIC of Shield (now known as Hammer) and all the bad guys are now the main title teams (ie Dark Avengers, Dark Xmen, Dark Howard the Duck?)

Whats the point? God only knows. After the mess they made with One More Day (retconning the last 15years of Spiderman and getting rid of his marriage) and the almost brilliance of Civil War (but being too scared to make it stick beyond the Registration Act...When i get my copy ill talk more about this) Marvel have lost the plot on earth.

Stick with the Space stuff...with Lilandra dead and Kannath the new Majestor, the Inhumans ruling the Kree and Gabriel Summers and Black Bolt having fisticuffs (a proper word it seems) all bets are off.

On a side note

It seems Marvel entered the digital publishing business at the end of last year.

for $4.99 a month, you can read most of their comics online, using a digital reader in you websurfing device.

To my mind they seem to be slow at putting the new stuff on there...but print versions are more important.

I also tried to use it, and found the scans a bit off putting considering your paying for it (as opposed to DCP)

Nevertheless, hopefully they will continue on this path, and DC will get their act together..and then we can have singles online and just buy tpb. Which would by my idea of heaven.

Still you get what you pay for i guess.

http://www.marvel.com/digitalcomics/hq/

check it out

No more heroes anymore

This is getting out of hand.

Its been long established in comic lore that dead does not really mean dead...it usually means their popularity has flagged and they want a reboot, or they're having legal problems.

I'll give you an example of each:

As above, The Flash: There have been..ooo..4 mainstream Flashs. Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, Wally West and Bart Allen. As far as I am concerned Wally is the Flash, but that has little bearing on the matter. Jay is still active in JSA. Barry originally disappeared into the Speed Force during Crisis on Infinite Earths, Wally went the same way during Infinite Crisis and Bart was murdered by the Rogues.

Now: Barry is back for some reason..Wally....is back in the Titans? I dunno. Bart has been cloned and Jay is still...Jay. Why break something that needed no fixing? Bart was fine as the Flash during his tenure. Wally was..IS the Flash..and now we have Barry back again.

Legal aspect: Connor Kent, Kon-El or if you prefer, Superboy.

As stupid as the name sounds, Superboy is far more interesting than either of his 'parents'.

He is a clone of..well obviously Clark, and not so obviously, Lex Luthor. He even went pyscho once trying to kill the rest of the TTs.

He died by having Superboy-Prime (bear with me) beat the living shit out of him during the crisis. He died a heroes death, he was one of my favourite characters (and i hate nearly anything which has the prefix 'super-') and it broke my heart to see how Tim and Cassie reacted.

2 years later..he's back. Cloned or something, i dont know. As far as i am aware, DC settled their dispute with Jerry Segiel (or however you spell it) over the rights to the character.

Yesterday it was reported that DC lost the rights to all of the early Superman stuff, his birth, Krypton, parents..all of it was given back to the original creators. What does that mean? Well it means that Jerry Seigel can take the rights to Superman movies away from DCs parent company Warner Bros. If that aint a big deal, I'm Chip.

p.s..Fish dude with the fin on the end...Tomar Re..totally awesome dude.

So why is this relevant at the moment.

2 reasons:

The ongoing blackest night event revolves around all the DC universes dead and reborn characters. Hal and Barry being the most recent. The Black Lanterns seem to be making a bee line for them. We may get rid of some of the more annoying characters who have come back (Jason Todd im looking at you)

The second reason..and one which really pisses me off...Steve Rogers is coming back as Captain America. They killed him and the place went nuts. At the time i thought, 'hell yeah, way to go Marvel. Civil War means something now.' But noooo. Steve was shot by a temporal bullet or some such crap which sent his consciousness back in time (Doom Tech natch) so....what was the point?

Such a waste of decent writing. Way to go Brubaker.

Does that mean Colbert has to give the shield back?

Nooooooooo

Persona 4 update 2:

Spoilers abound btw

Wow. They took Nanako. The bastards.

Namatame seems to have been behind it, but i dont really believe that. His notebook said he was trying to save them. From what? who knows...but he took Nana-chan.

dude is dead meat.

Got into the new dungeon..heaven. Got wiped out for once. Luckily i'd saved just before hand so i didnt really lose much. Currently lvl53 and 32hrs in or so. Well ahead of the GB guys.

Why is Chie up there? well...it was Chie or Rise, and Rise is kinda scary.

In other news;

Work is very slow...very very slow. Just cleaning out the product list will make my mind assplode.

Post has decided not to come today..so still waiting on my stuff. I did get one Brain Lumley book last night (The Source..which is the book after the one i need to read..sigh) and my copy of blackest night (see below)

I grabbed MvC2 off psn last night along with the call of Juarez demo. MvC2 is what it says on the tin...but the online stuff didnt work when i tried. Probably our crap connection here.

Call of Juarez is goddam awful. Its a first person wild west type game. You run around with your guns out at all times (yeah thats normal) and it just looks awful. Gameplay is passable at best. I deleted it off after completing tout a pres.

Apart from it being boiling outside, there's not much else going on.

First Flight?

So here's something not many people know about me. I'm a massive green lantern fan. Be it Hal or Kyle or Guy or...well not John but you cant win them all.

For those who arn't in the know (or have lives) GL is baisically a cross between Star Wars and...ermm The Bill? Green Lantern Corp are tasked by the guardians of the galaxy to be Space Police in less than 30 words. Guardians being little small blue dudes with big heads...smurfs really.

Anyway each lantern has a ring which gives them their abilities be it flight or whatever. The ring is tied to the users willpower and allows them to make constructs of whatever they can think of..it depends on the user. Hal tends to go for the less subtle approach (baseball bats etc) Kyle is an artist, but also a guy who grew up in the 80s (giant robots etc) and John is an engineer (waaaay to much detail).

So why am i telling you all of this? I recently saw the new GL animated movie from the awesome Bruce Timm studio at WB (he did the 90s Batman cartoon...what more do you want?)

I love WBs animation...they way they draw their characters. Its always very art deco in my mind. Beyond that, the storyline here wasnt that great until the middle. We start we Hal at Ferris and Abin Sur's crash...and end with all out war between the Lanterns and Sinestro with a very early adoption of the yellow lantern. We kinda skip the training part and go straight to Hal being....Hal. The writers pitched it as Training Day meets Star Wars...well Moss Eisley and Cloud City turn up, but Beyond Sinestro's wonderful characterisation by Victor Garber (of Alias fame) there wasn't much there.

There were some nice touches. Chip and Kilowog and the rest make an appearance. Best scene hands down was After Sinestro cut the power to the rings, all of the dead lanterns rings raining down on Oa. That was...really impressive writing.

In all i'd give it a B-. Good fun, but could have been much more.

Why bring this up? Well it seems that after playing Deadpool (i'll kill the writer for what they did to him) Ryan Reynolds has been signed up to play Hal in the movie coming next year. He's much more suited to Wally West, but we shall see.

Also if you happen to read comics at all of the super hero variety..pick up Blackest Night. The current arc going through the GL books and others. Ive read the first issue...its not civil war, but its damn good anyway.

The Art of Listening

While i pretend to work;

One of my favourite things in life are podcasts.

Yes i really am that sad.

Nevertheless, podcasts are really a major part of my life. I used to listen to them walking to Uni every day (1/2 hour there, 1/2 hour back) and you learn a lot during that time.

So with that in mind i bring you my 5 favourite podcasts.

5. Ifanboy: This is a comics podcast that i only started listening to last night, but, if like me you happen to be interested in this sort of thing, its solid gold. Their take on Rise of Cobra was spot on (ITS STAR WARS!!!) and they seem to have a passion for it.

4. Skeptics Guide to the Universe: The science podcast of choice. Havnt really been listening recently, but the group do a good job of explaining advances in science and the media being idiots about it. Tim Minchin is a fan if that helps.

3. The Shadow Podcast: All the original radio shows from the 30s, starring Orsen Wells. Action, Romance, Adventure. What more do you need? A flying squirrel you say? oh well...

2. Decoder Ring Theatre: For the Red Panda Adventures alone. I love them. I love the almost 60s Batman vibe to them, and Kit Baxter is just lush in every way. That voice...wow. She's the writers wife anyway, and the chemistry between them is fantastic. Black Jack Justice aint half bad either..but not a patch on the Red Panda. 1930s Toronto was never so cool.

1. Bombcast @Giantbomb: I love these guys. They know what they're talking about, they're funny and I've been listening so long i feel i know them. The guests also tend to be really great and forthcoming. Jeff, Ryan, Vinny and Brad. I salute you. Just don't cast Bufu.

Currently waiting on the MVC2 to be released on PSN today. would prefer SNK vs Capcom 2 (or which ever way around the decent on of those is)

What the hell is up with the borders on this thing?

my words get cut and so do the pics

WTF?

CCCCCCCCCOOOOOBRAAAAAAA

So another day goes by;

In the news today..

it seems that GRIN, developer of the recent bionic commando, wanted and the awful terminator game have closed their doors due to the publishers not paying them. On the GB podcast they seemed like really nice guys, and their non licenced stuff was pretty good. Its a shame really.

The first of the dlc for Red Faction, Gorilla (cough) is out today. I really enjoyed the demo..but im currently waiting for it to come down in price. Batman in two weeks.

I'm not making much progress in my search for FCP stuff in the UK. People don't seem to advertise much that kinda thing...which is a shame. Some helpful guys on creative cow are trying their best to help though.

All my books and stuff have yet to arrive...post is all over the place at the moment. So nothing to report on that side.

Persona 4 update:

It really outdid itself this time. In one night i had a beauty pageant, a 'beauty' pageant and of course obligatory hotspring moment. Seeing all the guys dressed up as girls was scary...especially considering MC seemed to be dressed up as Saya from Blood (that movie adaptation was awful btw)

Noato easily won the beauty contest even though she refused to do the swimsuit part...i can probably take a case why...though Yuki-chan would have come a close second.

I've completed 3 more social links with Daisuke, Dojima and nearly with Nanako and Chie. This game really gets you caring about some of the characters..its impressive.

I'll update again later with a review of something i've recently had the pleasure to experience...so that counts out Sex. :)

If you didn't know the real GI Joe movie..this is it. It came out just after the original TF movie and has many links to it..beyond the voices. Duke was supposed to die, but after the uproar over Optimus Prime's death..they rewrote it. GI Joe also appealed to older audiences than TF. I just remember the idea of everyone becoming a snake scared me shitless when i was a kid

Video Games | 'G.I. Joe: The Movie' Intro

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Actually

Take 2 away from the canon score...Cobra Commander.
If you've seen it, you'll know what i mean.

Apparently they though the original was too Klu Klux Klan....He's a terrorist for christ sake..think he cares?

In Other news.

C&C4 seems to be getting ready for release next year..after the never ending exp packs of the last 2 games, are we suffering from too much C&C?


hmmm.

Next..
It seems the Green Hornet movie is being pushed by Seth Rogen for release sometime next year?
Yep the guys behind superbad are making the Green Hornet movie. I dont really know what to think about this but...


does that work?

What else before i belatedly start work?
My amp and guitar are going to be delivered very late..at this rate the unamed band i am in will never get going..

I'm roaring through Persona 4. 32hrs and ive finished Naoto's dungeon. Shocking..she was a girl this whole time...you dont say..

I've ordered a ton of books for my new bookshelves. Brian Lumley, GI Joe collections and some over stuff. I'll update when i get around to it. Also have Fear 2 and Arkham Asylum on the way. Expect reviews forthwith.

Also im waiting on my cthulhu. Yes i have a cthulhu.


Now arnt you jealous.
and yes i know i spend too much money...gimmie a break, I live in the middle of nowhere up a mountain. Literally

Destro and the Baroness practicing the clarient

Considering last nights find (see below) I thought i'd give a brief review of GI Joe: Rise of Cobra. Went to see it last Friday.

Keep in mind i saw it in Spanish...so acting is not something i can comment on. So only storyline, sfx and canon will be mentioned.

Right so, we all know what GI Joe is yeah? Toy/Cartoon/Comic series. I was a big fan of the cartoon and comic when i was a kid (know as Action Force in the UK btw) so you kind of know what to expect going in. Think transformers but with people...and that is essentially what you get,
But instead of megan fox you get sienna miller, whoever Scarlett is and THE ninjas. (as far as i am concerned Snake Eyes and Stormshadow are the pinacle of ninja in this world) You also get a more coherent storyline compared to TF2 which i found rather lacking.

We open with one of Destro's ancestors and the reason for the famous iron mask, and finish with the creation of cobra commander and destro getting his 'mask'. Inbetween there are a lot of bang crash whallop moments to keep you going, and awesome ninja fights but don't go in expecting the greatest movie of all time. Its not the godfather.

The action scenes actually out do Michael Bay..GI Joe is directed by the guy who did the mummy, and brandon fraser makes a cameo at one point as Gung Ho (yeah yeah i know my Joes) but again..you know what to expect.

That said..if you like Ninjas, looking at drop dead gorgeous women (sienna miller....wooo) and need to switch off for a while, i heartily recommend GI Joe.

Storyline: 2/5
SFX: 4/5 (i try to ignore the Iron Man suits..though they are pretty funny)
Acting: ? (is it needed?)
Sticking to Canon: 3 (take 3 away if they partners Scarlett with anyone but Snake Eyes)

overall a solid 3 (not an average)

The Ballad of G.I. Joe from Olivia Wilde

Opening Salvo

Good Evening

.....

or whatever.

Call me what you will, this is the new blog, not that same as the old blog..

Its purpose..is to give my mind a break from work every so often and to comment on things from around the world that interest me.

So to hit you with a idea of whats coming expect;

Movie reviews

Game reviews and whatnot

Book Reviews

Comic reviews

News

Updates on the band

and those day in the life moments.

So keep an eye out..it'll all be on here at some point.