Hey everybody, long time no see. I know it's been a while since I've posted anything personally relevant (partly because I'm lazy, partly because I've been pretty uninspired recently as should be evident by my blatant plagiarism of Jon Holmes' recent entry), so I'mma just take a few minutes and give some thoughts on the stuff that's been stealing all my free time recently.

Blazblue

Oh snap. There's been an enormous boom in the game's popularity around these parts, but I never expected it to take off the way it did. Obviously, with good reason. I ordered it from eBay and was anticipating it's arrival anxiously for a good 2 weeks, but man, was it worth it.

The game is fan-fucking-tastic. Arc System Works really hit the jackpot with this one. Breaking down it's elements: the characters are brilliantly realised (I'm especially fond of Jin and Noel myself), the gameplay is finetuned to beyond perfection (though CPU-controlled Hakumen gives me headaches), it's designed in a way I've never seen before (the 2D sprites actually look better than the characters in the opening animé FMV), and the story is actually interesting; a rarity for a fighter, especially a 2D one. Judging by how ravenously our community alone has received it, I think this is one fighter we'll be seeing for a long time to come, just like Third Strike.
Overall, top notch stuff. Good work, ArcSys.

UFC 2009 Undisputed

To be honest, I was never really interested in UFC or MMA at all before this game. I had downloaded the demo to my HDD, but not played it and it was only when I left it in my friend's house, he played it and told me how great it was that got my attention. Goddamn this game is good. Like, really good. Probably the best sports game ever made (at least, IMO).

The wealth of fighters on offer is pretty staggering, and despite the fact that there are only 6 fighting disciplines to choose from, everyone feels unique in their own way. The character models are insanely detailed too, and this is one of those games that an HDTV really makes a noticeable difference. You can literally see the fighters' faces get completely deformed and it's not unusual for someone at the end of the match to look like Sylvester Stallone.

During a fight, you can be knocked out at any time with a particularly well placed hit; these are known as Flash KOs, and I don't really know the criteria for them (which there must be some, since THQ said they were reducing the frequency of them in an upcoming patch) but they're pretty hilarious. 5 seconds into a match between a friend and I, he was KOed. He went straight for a takedown and met Shogun's knee. :)
Needless to say, this game is worthy of anyone's time, not just hardcore UFC fans.

Prototype

You had to have seen this one coming.
This game basically dominated my existence for a good week when it first came out. And I haven't even gotten around to finishing it yet, due to the large amounts of hilarity to be derived from terrorizing innocent civilians. The only real complaint I have with it is that some parts are pretty unfair, such as the game swarming you with hunters when you're almost dead, and other such nuisances. I suppose the graphics could be a bit better, but it all runs so smoothly without a hint of slowdown so who can really complain?
Also, it IS blatantly better than inFAMOUS, and anyone who says otherwise is a total berk.

Personal crap
So it's pretty hard to get a job in our current economic climate, wouldn't you agree? Which is why I've been forced to sell a significant amount of my collection to keep myself up to date with all these new releases. It sucks, but what can ya do? Either way, I got 65 big ones for Wii Fit (bought for 90) so that's a plus. It also gives me some time to get reacquainted with some classics I'd forgotten about, including Capcom vs SNK 2, KoF98 (XBLA), Garou (XBLA), Shenmue, and Alpha 3. Good times.
Also, for anyone interested, I gave my DS to my friend for awhile (he's never played FFVI so I gave him it and a copy of Advance and he fucking loves it so far, plus PokéPlat) but I plan to start doing Korg mixes again in a few weeks. I also joined his metalcore band as drummer, so that's pretty cool. :)