The Microsoft press conference was a mixed bag. It started really well. Fallout 3 looks amazing. I love the ammo cam. It is very well done. I really hope there is a 3rd person view as I tend to get motion sickness with FPS games.

The weakest thing was Fable II's selling point. Co-op mode? That is what makes it unique? It seems incredibly boring to me. Its almost like Molyneux saw that feature in Animal Crossing and said that will be a cool to add.

I look forward to hearing what is coming out for all three game systems.

Also, Softimage announced last week XSI 7. I was super geeked despite having a slightly old version. I like the new approach with ICE that they took. I am *thinking* about upgrading depending on the price they offer. Softimage does not mention upgrade pricing on their site but I hope that its significantly cheaper than full price(3.5k ouch!)

It slipped my mind that it was coming out this week. I am going to try to get it from EBGames or Best Buy today. I am happy because I was getting tired of playing Pokemon Mystery Dungeon(yes, I was hard up on rpgs)

   My brother Ryan sent me a link yesterday to Marvel Vs. Online for the PC.  I tried out the game and its somewhere between Magic and Yu-gi-oh in terms of fun factor. 

   I forgot I bought the DS version of this game so I thought to try it out.   I was turned off almost immediately.

   First of all it completely touch based so using the D-pad or the buttons are out of the question. Second, you have to tilt the bloody handheld sideways like you do when you play Brain Age. In short, total suckage.

First I should say how I feel about the mario games in general just to give you some perspective on my gaming preferences. My favorite platform Mario games are the 2D variety. I liked Super Mario 64 but I thought it was too hard in certain spots. Super Mario Sunshine was decent but forgettable.

On to the Super Mario Galaxy review: It is better than Super Mario 64 in that it has a tighter control scheme. That being said I did find it awkward to use the numchuck at times especially when I wanted to butt slam an enemy by pressing the Z key. It may be that my hands are small and that it requires me to extend my fingers in an unnatural way.

The gameplay is topnotch. It is a tad bit easier than Super Mario 64(which I like). There are still some very hard levels mixed in(at least so far).

I am picking it up at lunchtime and will be playing it tonight. A mini review will come afterwards.


Update: I wasn't able to pick it up today as they were all sold out at all the places I checked but I am getting it either tommorow or Thursday.

    I picked up Super Paper Mario for the Wii about a month ago and I have been playing it this week. It is probably the weakest Mario to come out in a while.

    The game is visually beautiful. I like the pre-drawing aspect of the game and the 2D/3D flipping aspect is pretty cool.

    The problem comes with the puzzles. The puzzles are scattered and uneven. I can't recall a Mario game where I used a FAQ for so much of the game.

    I downloaded the Bioshock demo from FilePlanet.com yesterday and my AVG virus scanner detected a Trojan Horse within one of the executables. I was lucky that I caught this one early as I have a lot of applications on my machine that could have been affected.
   
    I was hoping to play the demo to at least get a feel for the gameplay(and to make sure it ran comfortably on my PC). Instead of playing the Bioshock demo, I downloaded a new game from PopCap Games called Mystery P.I.  In the game you go into rooms and locate hidden items within them. I think I may end up buying this game like I did with Peggle Deluxe.

    My Multiple Sclerosis is in full swing mode today. I managed to make it to work today but I will probably call it a day early and get some rest.

    Last night I started downloading the BioShock demo for the PC. I am going to give it a whirl and see if it does not give me nausea like most first person shooters do.

    Also I managed to do some work for a particular 3D challenge on c4dcafe.com. It is one of the first challenges I do because its a relatively simple 3D challenge. I am about 50 percent done on it and I will post Work in Progress images soon.

    I am trying to finish Odin Sphere before Persona 3 comes out.  Its been ages since I have finished any game but Odin Sphere may be the first one.

    I have been also playing Pokemon Pearl on the DS. My brother has Diamond and we have been trading Pokemon. The game is pretty much the same except for a few gameplay elements.

Sony's press conference is still underway but so far I am unimpressed.  A new PSP was announced and a good number of games. I don't have one yet. As soon as a good RPG comes out for it I may buy it.

Nintendo's press conference was so-so. I thought they used too much montages during the presentation. The new peripherals are pretty decent with the exception of the wii-wheel  which looks like its just a plastic wheel with an indentation for the wii remote. The Wii Zapper excites me the most. I hope Namco releases their Guncon games on it. My all time favorite arcade game is Point Blank. If they release that on the wii I will be in nerdvana for a few days.

Microsoft's showing was rather boring. I am still planning to get an Xbox360 around when Blue Dragon comes out.

I am towards the end of Ratchet and Clank: Up your arsenal. I made it to Dr. Nefarious and he is one tough cookie!

I will beat him someday. Rest assured.

The red stick animation festival is fast approaching. I am looking forward to going this year. I missed it last year due to the fact that I was working at a new job. I don't have that problem this year as I am doing contract work now so I have a more flexible schedule.


Games I am playing at the moment:

Ratchet and Clank: Up your Arsenal : This is a series that I have only played sparingly. Its a great game to play if you want to play for a short period of time.

Yuigoh World Tournament 2007(DS) : I still enjoy playing the game despite its nth incarnation.

Games I have left to finish:
Rogue Galaxy
Disgea 2

Picked up Chocobo Tales this evening and played a little of it. I haven't gotten to any of the battling with cards. I have gone into only one book and obtained about 5 cards. Here is a short synopsis of the gameplay:

1) Enter a book
2) Enter book story mode(Scrolling text at the bottom, pop book up top)
3) Enter trial mode. A prep level for the Battle mode. You can earn cards if you finish under a certain time limit.
3) Enter battle mode. Compete against a number of cpu opponents in sed level. There are five levels of difficulty. If you do well on the 2nd level you can potentially unlock all five.

There are also mini-games scattered through the world. The only one I played was a take on mindsweeper. It was fun but very challenging. I haven't unlocked the cards on that one but mark my words I will!

(Aside)During supper, I watched the show: Venom! 9 ways to die. I gained new appreciation for venomous snakes, jellyfish, spiders, platypuses(or playtipi) and the Poison Dart Frog.

I am going to be picking up Chocobo Tales today for the DS. I will post a mini review later.