Muramasa: The Demon Blade Review

The art is beautiful, but don't expect much variety.

• Game: Muramasa: The Demon Blade
• Developer: Vanillaware
• Price: $49.99 (Buy it)
• Release Date: 9/8/2009

Imagine a world in which Disney created hentai porn. Imagine the beautiful hand drawn art of Disney, mixed with writing found in the porn industry. That’s the kind of feeling I get after playing Muramasa: The Demon Blade. The game is gorgeous and I found myself playing it for hours, but the more I played it, the less interested I became in it.

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Shadow Complex: The Return of Console Side-Scrollers

Playing through Shadow Complex has got me thinking; at what point did game designers stop listening to what we want, and instead let focus groups (and the people who never really buy the games) dictate what we want?

A perfect example of this would be Sonic the Hedgehog. For years the gaming community has been screaming for an old Sonic; a 2-D Sonic, side scrolling Sonic. One day a video leaked and it was for a new Sonic game; a new side-scrolling Sonic game. Classic Sonic fans everywhere were excited. We patiently waited for confirmation that it was a real game. It was real, but the joy we felt wouldn’t be lasting too long. The next video they showed us featured something different, something we didn’t want. What we got was a video of a hack-n-slash level, where Sonic became a “Werehog”. We all groaned, knowing this was not going to be the game we all wanted.

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SMT: Persona 3 Portable

It would appear that the world of Persona 3 will be coming to the PSP later this year (in Japan at least). It seems that you will be playing as a young lady this time around, though the main character from PS2 game will have a part in the game as well. Not much is known about the game as of right now, but I'm sure we'll hear more in the coming months, probably at the Tokyo Game Show.

I don't know about everyone else out there, but I am really excited for this game. I would have been happy with a simple port of Persona 3, but the fact that we're getting a brand new story is more than I ever could have asked for. Hopefully those of us living outside of Japan (and not understanding Japanese) won't have to wait too long to get the game. I've only just heard of the game's existence, but I'm already dying to get my hands on it.

Anticipation: A Tale of Video Game Delays

With all the delays coming about recently, my anticipation level has risen beyond belief. I’m sure I don’t have to list the games that have been delayed recently, but just in case some “noobs” around here haven’t been paying attention, these upcoming titles have all been delayed.

• Bioshock 2
• Bayonetta
• Dragon Age: Origins
• Dark Void
• Red Dead Redemption
• Splinter Cell Conviction
• Mafia 2
• Star Craft 2
• Heavy Rain

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Ghostbusters: The Game - First Impressions

This won’t come as a surprise, but Ghostbusters: The Game was made specifically for fans of the film (and its sequel). The game can still be enjoyable for those unfamiliar with the franchise, but the real joy comes from seeing our favorite characters kick some ghost booty after such a long absence. I’m not saying that the gameplay isn’t fun, but it’s definitely not the strength of this game.

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The Elder Scrolls Series Remains Dormant

I am a huge fan of the Elder Scrolls series and find something so beautiful about that world. While I did enjoy Fallout 3, I was really hoping that Bethesda Softworks would start working on the next Elder Scrolls game after finishing their work with Fallout 3 (they officially confirmed that they are done bringing DLC to the game), but that doesn't seem to be the case.

"Don't look for a new Elder Scrolls game in the near future."

That is a direct quote from Todd Howard, executive producer and game director of Bethesda Softworks, taken from his keynote speech at QuakeCon 2009. I know that this doesn't mean that the series is dead by any means, but I do find it a bit disheartening that we won't be seeing anything new in the Elder Scrolls universe for quite some time. Howard chose to only throw some bread crumbs at the gaming populus by saying that "We are working on our next big game but we are not talking about it." I wish their "next big game" was The Elder Scrolls V, but it is Bethesda and I'll take what I can get.

Gaming Memories: Final Fantasy II

When I was in the 10th grade I was an overweight Geek, for those of you counting at home that was 1993; I guess you could say nothing much has changed. I had just received my SNES the previous Christmas and it was heaven. A few years earlier a local department store was closing its doors and inside the store was a whole section of magazines and guides for a ton of video games. I found one for a game called Final Fantasy and convinced my dad to buy it for me; I believe it cost $1 at the time.

I had never seen a game like this before; Wizards, warriors, and thieves. The game seemed huge and I decided I was going to rent this game. I had just picked up my trusty guide and no dragon seemed too dangerous, no stone would be left unturned. I would stop the evil Chaos from destroying the world!

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CGI-Quality Graphics Finally Possible?

This isn't so much a post on whether CGI-quality graphics are now possible in video games, but more of reaction to another story that made this claim (the original story can be found here).

"Ratchet and Clank A Crack in Time finally brings the graphical quality of pre-rendered CGI to video game consoles."

The above statement is taken directly from the original story and though I can't say I disagree with this statement, I find the way it was delivered to be rather odd. The reason I find all this praise and crazy fanboyism odd is that this story directly compares the game with the CGI of Toy Story 2. Maybe it's just me, but I find it almost pointless to praise a video game for delivering graphics of the same quality as a 10 year old movie. Shouldn't we be questioning why there is such a gap in the quality of pre-rendered graphics compared to CGI? It's not that I don't understand why it's more difficult to reach CGI-level graphics, but I just find it odd to praise a game for looking as good as a 10 year old movie.

Bite Down on a Dragon's Sausage [Update]

This is without a doubt the greatest collector's edition that's ever existed...if only it were real. Seriously, who wouldn't want some delicious sausage in their collector's edition?

Update: The video was taken down...I guess it was just too much sausage for most to handle.

A Pixelated Sausage Community Gamertag

I've known about these little group gamertags for a while now, but never thought to create my own for this here little site. It has now been done and as of right now only officially contains we three podcasters: CannoliCrasher(me), Hendersonman, and BigSt3ph3n. The group is open to everyone and I really hope you decide to join us in our shenanigans. This will be a good way for fellow listeners to get to know one another better and possibly get some gaming done as well!

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