It’s here! It’s alive! Well, dead really! It’s amazing! :D 4 days before release but you don’t hear me complaining ;)

Go get it and learn what next-gen is really about. Thank you shop keepers! Capcom won’t mind ;)

If we forget about PS2 for a moment, which still has an amazing library of games with many great titles to come, people would claim Sony hasn’t got what it takes when it comes to handheld gaming and the next generation of consoles.

But having just received Ultimate Ghost n’ Goblins and Every Extend Extra, I have to disagree. The PSP sure has potential and these new batch of games (still waiting for Gitaroo Man Lives!) will make the PSP a nice choice for gamers as Xmas present.

Ultimate Ghost n’ Goblins is insane though. You can’t blink, you just can’t take a 1 second break. Monsters keep coming from all sides while you jump your way through the crazy but beautiful level design. It’s unforgiving and frustrating, but you keep coming back for more. You want to show that game who’s the boss ;). The jumping mechanic doesn’t help though. Once you jump in a direction, you’re off in that direction. No change possible, like you would in a Mario game. In short, it’s Mario platforming, with Ikaruga dodging and a handicap on your jumping ability. Loco, but fun :D Edge gave it 9/10. 1UP 4/10. I guess I agree with both.

I haven’t had much time with Every Extend Extra yet, but it’s your typical Q! Entertainment game. It has Rez and Lumines written all over it. Simply put, it’s just the free PC game with a new skin and music that reacts to your actions. A must for puzzle fans… I can only hope one day they’ll do a Geometry Wars remake too :D

Onto some bigger news! I really like my 360, but the lack of good games and Japanese dev support makes it a dust collector. Ridge Racer 6 is the last game I actually played on it. The DS, PS2 and PSP are getting the most love at the moment and Next-gen is amazing and all, but without the right games, without the support of the Japanese people and developers, no next-gen console will succeed in giving me what my PS2 and Gamecube ever gave me. I need my Final Fantasy games. I need JRPGS. I need games like Katamari, Ico, Killer 7, Rez, Xenosaga etc. I guess you see where this is going :P

Yes, I’ve done it. I’ve preordered a PS3. That doesn’t mean I’ll have it at launch with 100% certainty but still. Yes, it’ll be the first revisions and yes, it might be buggy, but lately firmware updates fix all so I couldn’t care less. That baby will hopefully be sitting next to my Sony tv before Christmas ;)

/played
Nothing!
As odd as it may sound, I didn’t play anything this week. Not a single console got booted. Except for Xenosaga and some other games of my backlog, there isn’t anything worthy of wasting time on. But that’s soon to change, with a big list of games on my “to buy”-list.

This month alone has already gotten a few nice releases:
Dead Rising (360): The wait hasn’t gotten me more excited but actually more bored of it. I’ll be buying it though and hopefully loving it.
Gitaroo Man Lives (psp): Played the Japanese version, never played the ps2 version. Finally it’s arriving in our silly little country!
Ultimate Ghosts n’ Goblins (psp): Who said the PSP doesn’t have good games. A second one in one month! :D Not sure whether I want to buy it, since it’s supposed to be so hard you’ll throw that PSP right out of the window. 1UP gives it 4, Edge 9. The only two sources I have faith in contradict eachother! Help :D
Contact (ds): Harvest Moon team meets Killer 7 team can only be a win-win situation. Must-have!
Okami (ps2): Finally a Zelda game on the Sony console. I’ve been looking forward to this game for a long time and so has Elke. The Jap-whore I am, I’m sure I’ll love this game.

Crap, quite a list. Luckily I was prepared and didn’t waste my money on crap last month :P

/watched
Lost Season 2 Episode 13 - 21
No Flemish VT4 viewer can spoil it for me anymore. But my Walloon colleagues still can :/ Still 3 episodes to go to catch up to the rest of the world!

/listened to
My Neighbour Totoro OST
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence OST
St. Germain - Various albums