2009 PS3 Holiday Rush

There is another reason why I pre-order my games so far in advance - bonuses. Yes, I am addicted to those so called "free" pre-order bonuses. Whether it be some unlockable content or a keychain, I usually try to get my hands on which ever pre-order bonus appeals to me the most. I'm even willing to pay a little extra to pick up these items if I feel they are worth it. I'm also a sucker for "Collector's Editions" which also include a lot of nice goodies as well as some that are just plain garbage. So, here is my list of upcoming PS3 titles that I am getting. Just like with the PSP list, towards the end of the year, I'll be writing a wrap-up or sorts that will examine how well I picked my games.

Batman: Arkham Asylum (08.25.09) - As my first pre-order of the season, this game wasn't even on my early version of the "Holiday Rush" list. Actually, I all but passed this game up until I found out two very important things - Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill. These two voice actors made the 90s animated series into the great show that it is and my all-time favorite representation of Batman. That is what sold it for me and after playing the demo, I could tell how much effort they put into making this the best Batman game to date. Hopefully, once I get the chance to play through the game in its entirety that I will find that their hard work paid off.

Mini Ninjas (09.01.09) - Let me just make one thing clear, there is no such thing as "ninjas" because you can't pluralize "ninja". Now that I've cleared that up, you're probably wondering why I'm picking up this relatively "B" rated game. There was something about the demo that I just found so much fun. It didn't have the serious storyline, the hard edge style, or the violence that seems to fill up my game collection. It was simple and very "kiddy" but every once in a while I think we need decent "kiddy" games.

Katamari Forever (09.22.09) - Ah, now I can get high again without taking any drugs. Yes, the trippiest game is back and even better on the PS3 and all its high-definition glory . . . but maybe that's not a good thing. The colors in Katamari could easily give you a stroke or a seizure and the craziness of this game is sure to melt your brain. I cannot express how excited I am about this game. Bring on the party!

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (10.13.09) - I can't say much about this game considering that I have refused to watch any of the trailers, demos, or interviews about this game. I know it's going to be amazing and I don't want to spoil a single second of it. So I wait, with my fingers in my ears as I try to avoid all the hype and news surrounding this game until it hits later this October.

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time (10.27.09) - The longest title out of my games coming out this year and the one game I am least excited about. Wait, back up, what was that? Yes, I have to admit that I'm not very excited about this game because I already know how hard this game is going to rock and how amazing it will be. I am expecting perfection and I am sure that's what I'm going to get once this game hits the store shelves. The only question left to answer is what's going to happen to Clank.

Tekken 6 (10.27.09) - Finally, that's all I can say. It's about time that this game is coming out. Tekken, oh my wonderful Tekken, how I yearn to bask in the glory of your high-definition graphics as I pummel my enemies to be crowned the King of the Iron Fist Tournament.

Alpha Protocol (10.27.09) - I just noticed that there are a lot of games coming out on October 27th and I'm not sure how I'm ever going to play all of them. Anyway, Alpha Protocol is one of those games that I'm hoping will be great but I'm also trying to keep my excitement level down since I don't want to disappoint myself if it sucks. From what I've seen and heard so far though is that this game is going to have one heck of a story.

Assassin's Creed 2 (11.17.09) - Okay, I lied. I mentioned in a previous post that I was not going to get the collector's edition of AC2. That was before I found out that the collector's edition was going to include the soundtrack. I'm a sucker for soundtracks. I'm definitely hopeful that AC2 will fix all of the flaws found in the first game and truly become the great game that I know it can be. Everything about it shows potential from the gameplay to the location . . . it is unique. I can't wait to pop this baby in and give it a spin to see whether AC2 will become the game of the year or fall flat on its face.

The Saboteur (12.08.09) - The only game that is not a sure fire pick up for me, it's only on the list for one reason and that reason is Pandemic Studios. I love Pandemic and have been a faithful follower of theirs for a while now. I like the idea behind the game and the whole art style. I'm hopeful that they can pull it off right. I'll probably wait for a couple of months before I make my final decision on whether or not I'm going to pick this game up.

Gran Turismo 5 (12.29.09) - Once again I am not going to believe it until I see it. Word on the street is Gran Turismo 5 will be launched in this holiday season and that the official release date will be announced at the Tokyo Game Show. I will be shocked if it actually makes the release date list for this year. But if it does, I recommend that everyone go out and buy a lotto ticket, because it will be our lucky day.

2009 PSP Holiday Rush

It's that time again! Every summer I always seem to have some extra cash on me with no new games to buy. Yet right when the holiday season rolls in, there is a flood of new games that practically drowns me and my wallet. I've learned from past experiences that pre-ordering games is a good idea. For one, I can pay for the games when I actually have the money available as well as make sure that I get my hands on a copy of the most sought after games. I usually start reserving games around late July to early August and try to make sure that I reserve a game about a month before its actual release date. I found that this year I should have started earlier with the shear amount of games that are going to hit shelves in the coming months. Because my "Holiday Rush" list is so much bigger than it was last year that I am actually going to have to break this down into two parts, one for the PSP and the other for the PS3. And as these games launch and the year wraps up, I will be posting my thoughts of all these games and whether they were worth my time and my money.

SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny (09.01.09) - I love fighting games, Tekken is my bread and butter but SoulCalibur easily takes a lot of attention away from Tekken. Weapons, great costumes, and amazingly fun characters are some of the main reasons why I'm excited to finally be able to take this puppy on the go. I love the fact that Kratos is also a special guest character (though I would have loved to have seen Ratchet or Jak) that will join in the battle.

MotorStorm: Arctic Edge (09.29.09) - I'm not quite sure if it's really a good idea for me to have a MotorStorm game for my PSP considering that I have broken a PS3 controller because of this franchise before. Never the less, the thrill of snow covered tracks and mechanical mayhem is just too much to pass up.

Gran Turismo (10.01.09) - I still won't believe that Gran Turismo for the PSP is coming out until I actually have a copy in my hands. No, I truly think this is just another lie to try and tide us over for the time being. And once I do get a copy of this game, I'm sure I'm going to have to pinch myself a few times just to make sure I'm not dreaming.

Half-Minute Hero (10.20.09) - What can you do in 30 seconds? Watch a commercial, warm up a sandwich, defeat an evil lord, and save the world. At least that's what this game says you can do. 30 seconds is all you have to go travel the world, fight monsters, and complete your quest.

Jak & Daxter: The Lost Frontier (11.03.09) - What can I say it's Jak & Daxter on the PSP. This portable bundle of gaming goodness is sure to please long time fans of this amazing franchise. Now all we need is a PS3 game next!

LittleBigPlanet (11.17.09) - I am curious to see how LBP is going to translate onto the portable. The gameplay I'm sure will stay intact but what of the level building features. With the smaller storage space, it will definitely be interesting to see how they pull of the LBP style in such a small package.

Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines (11.17.09) - I have to admit the main reason why I'm picking this title up is for the cross-connectivity with it's older brother, Assassin's Creed 2. But I'm also curious to see how they are going to bridge the two major storylines as well. The graphics and gameplay looks tight but I'm still a bit skeptical on how the controls will hold out. Guess I will just have to wait until November to find out.

かいています

こんにちわ。

おす。

なにおしていさすか。

かいています。

I've always enjoyed learning new languages. From my five years of Spanish (which I'm still not very good at) to a quick stint with Latin, I have been taking languages courses for almost seven years straight. One language I've always been interested in learning is Japanese for a few reasons, the main reason is to be able to read all of those cancelled Manga that never made it to the States! Another reason is just out of shear necessity. With my family living in Japan for six years, we have acquired quite a few Japanese items and traditions. From almost eating rice with every meal and making Christmas Cakes to the wedding kimono that hangs in our hallway, we have integrated a lot of Japanese culture into our lifestyle. We even have a sign on our front door asking people to take off their shoes before entering and we often answer questions with "はい" instead of "yes". I finally decided to buy some material and learn the language after I spent three hours trying to translate a traditional Japanese recipe. Out of the different books I've picked up, I've been using two main resources in my adventure to learn Japanese.

We have all probably seen the TV ads for Rosetta Stone, they seem to show them every commercial break on every channel. I've always been curious about this program that promises fast results and is used by a lot of different businesses and agencies to teach a language quickly. Even with their stellar track record, I was still skeptical about Rosetta Stone considering that Japanese is one of the harder languages to learn. I was just going to buy the first program (there are three levels of Japanese in total, five levels just for Spanish) but I ended up being surprised by the whole set for my birthday. I've been going through the program for almost a straight month now and I'm almost done with the first level.

Let me say this, if you want to learn how to read and write Japanese, you're going to need some supplementary resources. Rosetta Stone focuses more on conversational Japanese rather than teaching all about grammar and those other important facets of a language. It's complete immersion, no translations or anything. They say a word or phrase in Japanese and then associate it with a picture. It works great for basic vocabulary but when trying to build phrases, it doesn't work quite as well. Main reason being that Japanese uses particles, which don't really exist in English. Another down fall of the program is its assumption that you can already read Japanese. There are three ways to write Japanese: Kanji (or Kanji with Furigana), Kana (Hiragana and Katakana), and Romaji. You can actually change the writing style of the lessons on the fly in Rosetta Stone which is helpful but the program itself has no teaching tools to help you learn all the symbols. Considering how difficult Japanese is, Rosetta Stone works surprisingly well. There are some lessons that make no sense (like the lesson on how to make things plural since there is no plural form in Japanese) and other lessons were taken from a cookie-cutter layout from another language. I definitely recommend it if you want a crash course in Japanese for a trip and want to be able to ask "where is the restroom". It's pricey though so you have to figure out which is worth more, time or money. Because Rosetta Stone does teach you the language at a surprisingly fast pace and even with this fast pace, it is still easy to learn and retain everything that is thrown at you. Once I'm finished with the full Japanese program, I'm considering picking up Spanish or another "Western:" language since I feel that Rosetta Stone is more conducive to western styles and might work a little better.

Since Rosetta Stone couldn't help me learn how to read and write the different styles of Japanese, I turned to another resource - The Manga University. Their series "Kanji de Manga" and "Kana de Manga" teach how to read and write the various Kanji and Kana in a unique way - through Manga. This technique makes it fun and enjoyable to learn and memorize what could be found as tedious in other materials. From stroke order to examples of words and definitions, they present all the information in an organized manner. Then to help cement what you have just learned, they give you a short Manga with dialogue. With around a month of going through the books, I can now fully read and write both sets of Kana. With just a week of studying Kanji de Manga, I already have around thirty Kanji memorized. I definitely recommend picking up the Kanji de Manga and Kana de Manga series (I believe there are 8 books in total) even if you just want to figure out what your Japanese candy wrapper says. They teach you the material in a fun and unique way that will surely keep you interested longer than traditional teaching books.

My goal is to have the knowledge of a "middle-schooler" in Japan by the time June rolls around. We'll see how it goes, with these two tools at my disposal as well as a variety of other resources, I'm excited to see how far I can get. Now, I just have to work on translating the rest of that recipe.

Bird Of Prey, Son Of None

Every once in a while a game will be shown at E3 or one of the other conferences that just blows your socks off. It looks amazing, promises revolutionary gameplay, and a story never seen before. As screenshots and trailers flood the internet, you find yourself caught up in the hype and the excitement surrounding this game. Then, when it does finally hit shelves and you can hold a copy in your hands, you rush home to "pop that baby in" and finally experience this stunning game. Yet ten minutes into the game, you find that it wasn't anything like you expected. "Half-baked", "rush job", and even "this is it?" swirl through your head. What was all the hype for? Why did I wait so long and waste my money on this? Only one phrase can truly describe these games - Drekfully disappointing.

Assassin's Creed was one such game. The hype for this game was so huge that you couldn't help but get caught in it. Screenshots, trailers, and interviews - I followed this game from when it was first hinted at TGS 2005 and then later at E3 2006. This was one of the must have games of the year. When it finally rolled out to the stores, I of course picked up the collector's edition for a hefty $99.99 price tag. When I opened the box, I had a feeling that I made a huge mistake. I won't get into details about the contents of the box itself, but let's just say it was pitiful, truly pitiful.

I have to admit the game is gorgeous and I still pop it in every once in a while. The gameplay mechanics work pretty well and it is truly fun to assassinate your enemies. The controls were simple and so were the missions - that's the biggest downfall of AC. It's supposed to be an action/platformer. When I think of platformer, I think of running and jumping, plus a few puzzles mixed in. In AC you can run and jump, but Altair does it all for you. Simply push forward on the analog stick and your off. No jump button is needed, nothing, you sit and watch him do all the work. I absolutely love platforming sequences, especially hard ones (I still play the swingshot levels from the R&C games all the time), yet Ubisoft somehow thought it was a good idea to take away 50% of the gameplay to make it easier for the gamers.

The missions are very simple as well. Collecting information on target, watch target, assassinate target, and repeat. While the first set of missions was fun and exciting, having to follow the exact same pattern throughout the game became tedious and downright boring. This game must have been one of the easiest to make because they just had to "copy and paste" the first set of events five or six times and poof, instant game. As for the locations, the cities of Jerusalem, Acre, and Damascus were very similar. In fact, they are so similar that I had a hard time remembering which city I was actually in. Once again, just "copy and paste" and poof you instantly have your in game world completed, easy as pie.

Though there are a few upsides with this game. The combat system was very unique and interesting, though not very polished, and I liked the "puppeteer" control scheme. The story, amazingly out there, was interesting enough to keep me interested in beating the game, which I did. Yet the characters were all forgettable and most were unlikeable, making it hard to distinguish the three factions from each other. The location is the best part of the entire game. The Third Crusade isn't as common a stomping ground as WWII or gang controlled cities, which makes this truly a unique adventure unlike anything we've seen on the PS3 so far. Too bad the upsides weren't strong enough to make this a Qwarktastic game.

With repetitive missions, arrogant characters, horribly simple controls, and a confusing storyline - Assassin's Creed was one of my biggest disappointments out of all the PS3 games I own. While this game did receive high scores, I feel most of them were undeserved, it's like rewarding a magician who can only do three tricks. Ubisoft is going to try another crack at this one with a sequel that's coming out later this year. I would pass on most sequels of "Drekfully disappointing" games, but AC had so much potential that I'm hopeful Ubisoft will fix a lot of these flaws and come out with a truly worthwhile game. This time though, no Assassin's Creed 2 collector's edition for me, no matter what's in it.

Drekfully Disappointing!

• Title: Assassin's Creed
• Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
• Publisher: Ubisoft
• ESRB: Mature
• Original Release Date: 11.13.07
• Original Platform: PS3, PC, X360, DS, Mobile