Thanks to KaosAngel for his contest and the strange extra of Japanese chocolate.








Made with the finest ingredients such as... um, well these:








And finally the actual prize, Hollow Ichigo.








He's awesome but also he's a lot smaller than I had originally thought he'd be. Anywho, thanks again to Kaos and for the awesome extra chocolate.

In my quest for all things Persona 4 I came across some of these awesome images thanks to Google.

Saving the best for first, prepare to have your mind blown.

Seriously, what can I say about that? That's some of the best shit I've seen in a long time. Hell, I think the only crossover I could accept as being better would be Transformers.

COSPLAY!

A male school uniform. God, I know it would look so fucking stupid but I can't help but fantasize about owning that thing, even if I'd never put it on.


And something for the ladies. Or the men who want to look like ladies. Or if you like buttons.

Thanks to the number of podcasts I've been listening to lately I have picked up a couple of really great indie games that I probably never would have looked at before. Indie has never been a genre of game that interested me and the only indie game I could claim I'd played was Braid. I've come to embrace these lovely little games and found some to be some of the best games I've played in a while. So, I give you a sampling of these games for your viewing and, hopefully, playing pleasure.

Spelunky

As the old saying goes 'lead with your best foot', so it is that I'm starting this off with my favorite of the bunch. Spelunky. The best way to describe this game is to say it's like Castlevania mixed with a "rouge-like" and more than a little Indiana Jones. The game consists of 2d platformer gameplay where in you are attempting to gather up treasure from the areas around you. This task it made difficult by the various traps, monsters and just general dangers associated with diving into a deep underworld. The absolute best part of all this comes from the fact that every time you start the game you get a random new level. Believe me, with something like 100 deaths under my belt I can say, you won't be seeing the same level twice. Which brings up the next point, difficulty. This game is HARD. You're going to die and you're going to restart so many times but this is made to be a joy rather than a tedium as you will enjoy seeing the new area that will be generated in your next life.

You'll find all sorts of things underground from robable-shops (Though I have yet to successfully rob one) full of extra equipment and items to damsels in distress who will reward you for rescuing them with a kiss (Which grants a point of life back). You'll make use of tools such as the rope, which allows you to reach higher ground, and the bomb, which allows you to blow holes in the ground and walls.

This is a game that is more than worth your time and it's free so you can hardly say it isn't worth the price of entry.

Eversion

Next on the list is Eversion. What can you say about this game? You play as a happy little flower in a Mario-style game where you are progressing through in an attempt to reach the castle.... except that's not really what this game is about. Without spoiling the game it's hard to tell you exactly why this is such an awesome play through. I'll try my best anyway. The game is very happy and sunny when you begin but it isn't long before you discover the "Eversion"'s which change the world around you, altering various points in the game (Clouds that are transparent become solid and therefor used to reach higher places) as well as the aesthetic of the game. Things become so much darker as you delve deeper into the Eversions and eventually you'll be wondering what the hell is going on with this thing?

Eversion is a true mind-fuck with entertaining gameplay. It wasn't enough to make me want to play it through multiple times but a single play through and this game will stick with you in all it's strange and somewhat disturbing glory.

Gravity Bone

Finally there's Gravity Bone. Shortest of all these, this game can be completed in about 20-30 minutes. Despite this rather short play time you'll find a rather entertaining little game. This is a game that requires even more discretion then Everison, as it's so damn short. But to describe the gameplay would be a simple 3D platfomer (I guess) where in you move around accomplishing the objectives set out to you. This is done on the Quake 2 engine but despite this the art style does a nice job of giving you an interesting world to play in. It's not too long before you'll adjust to the box headed inhabitants. Really to say anything else is to give away the game and it's uniqueness and that would be a shame as there is no reason you shouldn't pick this up and give it a shot.  It's short, it's interesting and you'll surely get a bit a fun from this very blocky title.


So there we have it, my shout-out to these well made and entertaining games. Their free. Their Fun. Their available to anyone who wants them. Go and download one or all of them and see for yourselves.

After knowing about the Ninja Blade demo for a while now Jeff's article finally made me care enough to log into my Japanese account and download the thing. Well, I see my indifference has served me well in this case. Ninja Blade happens to be the most generic and boring action game I've played in a while (and I just recently played TimeShift) but one thing it did right was get me to thinking, if you consider that a good thing, anyway.

If we were to assume Ninja Gaiden is the Grand Theft Auto of ninja action games (What?) and Ninja Blade is any number of terrible clones that GTA spawned then we should also have an equivalent to Saint's Row. Yes, if Saint's Row did anything right it was taking the GTA formula and just going crazy nuts with it. So, instead of the crappy ass Ninja Blade why can't we have some just crazy over the top variation on the Ninja Gaiden games? I realize taking Ninja Gaiden "Over the top" is a bit hard when the game features Ninjas, demons, many, many big breasted women and large amounts of blood all with very little story to go along with all this BUT I believe it can be done!

The Premise.
The game will center around the generic Ninja(You) and will basically be every crazy Geekdom crazy thing imaginable, it's already go the Ninja, so we have the antagonist, the Pirate. Obviously an age old center of debate but clearly Ninjas are better and so you play as one. Anyway, Pirate, chooses to decimate your homeland and kill your family, which oddly enough is land-locked, he probably had an airship or something. So, Ninja vows revenge, but before he can even begin his quest the dead being to rise, that's right, zombies..or..uhh zombie-cyborgs(that's supernaturally risen from the grave and modified with cyborg parts). So clearly there are some Cyborgs and Wizards in there somewhere, they've put aside there differences and are on a quest to kill Ninja, for somereasonIdon'tfeellikecomingupwith. Then of course there's the chick with big breasts, but I guess since Ninja Gaiden already has them at beyond a manageable level the next step would have to be making a character that is simply a pair of breasts, this Pair of Breasts will help you through and progress the plot at the poignant moments. Anyway all this leads up to the final battle between Ninja and Cowboy atop a nuclear missile headed towards the white house(oh No!) Ninja must stop the missile before it's too late! I guess it'll need a generic title to top things off but honestly Ninja Blade is already taken so.... Ninja Storm? Damn it! Ninja Blood! Perfect.


Clearly this game needs to be a bit more over the top but you get the idea. I'll keep dreaming till someone makes a game with so much god damn awesome in it.

I've been playing a lot of RPGs lately.
I mean A LOT of them. Between Persona 4, Final Fantasy XII, and Suikoden for the PSP I've been taking turns, leveling up, starting at starry eyed anime characters and throwing magic around like nobodies business. Frankly I need a break and that's where these three games came in.
Granted they are all a bit on the old side of things but that doesn't matter when you just need to chop off some heads and throw your fists around till you break some faces.And that's what these games are all about, it's my turn damn it! It'll be your turn when your lying on the ground limbs torn from your torso, when your broken and bleeing, thats when it's your fucking turn.

God Of War

I hate to admit it but I've never played a God of War game before. Sure they looked interesting enough but I can't say the gameplay looked all that fun. So when I saw it at EB while browsing around for some random action games and it was only $9.99 I figured what the hell, I'll give it a shot. Damn. This game is pretty fucking epic. I mean christ, I took down a gigantic fucking Hydra by impaling it upon the mast of a ship which I preceded to enter it's mouth and retreave a key from a man who had been eaten earlier. Got the key, dropped down into the hydra and left. Kratos is kind of dick, to be honest. I mean damn man, was that necessary? Then not five minutes later he's getting all teary eyed over these dead women and having flashbacks of his painful past. Come on man! If your going to be a prick at least try to remain consistent.

Anyway, the game is pretty damn awesome but the difficulty in the later levels is pretty harsh. Or maybe I just suck. In any case, searching for Pandora's Box and getting killed by these enemies that kept getting harder had me shouting at the TV until after my 5th death in a row the game gives me the option to try again on easy mode, which I accept thinking it's along the lines of The World Ends With You, in that it'll be easy for this one battle and then it'll revert to the ordinal difficulty afterwards. Damnit. I was wrong, now the game is stuck on easy. To be honest,though I can't say I'm minding the lack of difficulty. It's nice. I'll rip some guys in half and feel like I'm pretty badass without all that damn frustration.

I'm about 5 and a half hours in and enjoying it for the most part.

Viewtiful Joe

Another just plain awesome action game. This game has one of the more impressive art styles I've seen in a long time, which shouldn't be surprising I guess, because this game comes from Clover Studios, the guys behind Okami. The action is just crazy satisfying, dodging about, slowing time and just ripping through your enemies is a blast. I can't believe I missed out on this game for so long and playing it now i fear the fact that it has to come to an end at some point, though on that note at least I know Viewtiful Joe 2 is out there, ready to be enjoyed.

I picked this up at the same time as God Of War and at 4.99 I think this is probably the most satisfying purchase I've had in a long while.

Ninja Gaiden II

I just received this in the mail today after purchasing it used on Gamefly for $14.99. I'm not terribly far into the game, at the third level but so far it's a gory blast. Seriously, you chop off a dudes arm? He keeps on fighting. Both his legs? Still, STILL fucking fighting. This game is just pure visceral action and I'm loving every second of it. I chose to start at the easier of the two difficulties, though I don't know if that means I'm playing on easy or normal. It hasn't been too difficult yet, but having played the original I know how fast the difficulty of this game can ramp up on you so I'm expecting to be shouting at this game in the near future.

I can't overstate the violence. You get a weapon set that not only attaches to your hands like Wolverine but ALSO attached to your feet. So your like a cat. A dismembering, bloody, gore covered cat. Seriously, by the time I'm done with a combo with that weapon my opponents arms, legs and head are scattered all over the battlefield and their torso it left there, uselessly trying to pump blood into limbs that not longer connect. Ohh, Ninja. You may make me turn away from pirates.