Just to say that tonight's podcast is already up hidden somewhere on the site:
If you want to listen to it now, just go to the podcast section and click on archived episodes and there you go.
It seems that Chicken Mc Nuggets are involved...
PS : This shortblog does not deserve to be read in a few hours.

This week-end only, Steam makes a huge pack composed of 10 indie games for only 30 Euros/Dollars
The list includes:
-Audiosurf (yay)
-Braid (yay)
-Blueberry Garden (yay)
- Crayon physics Deluxe (yay)
-Darwinia (yay)
- Everyday Shooter (yay)
- Gish (yay ?)
- MR Robot (yay ?)
-The Path (looks promising)
And last but not least WORLD OF GOO !!!

I'd say it's an instant buy for me since I only own 3 out of 10 of these games.

Since the game comes out this week in the US, and since I was in need of ruling my kingdom a bit more, I decided to plough through LKS this week-end and man, how was I surprised...
So now I'm going to post 2 reviews: my personnal review and Dark Issun's, my slacker counterpart.


Dark Issun's review:
IT'S 4W350M3 L0L
10/10
(I said he was a slacker...)


My review:
Like Dark Issun, my thoughts on the game are pretty much very positive.
I am going to do a review a bit more organized than DI (DI: H3y! Li5t3n! H3y! My r3v13w w45 0rg4n1z3d 50 5cr3w y0u) and I will do it by categories:


Story:
Story-wise, it's fairly simple: you are a boy who plays with his puppets at home and one day, he sees four rats. So he decides to chase them, but he gets lost in the woods, until he discovers a magical crown, that makes him a king. His councellor wants him to expand the kingdom by reuniting all seven kingdoms nearby...
Like I said, it's simple, BUT it reserves quite a huge plot twist near the end so be prepared.
The adventure also has a lot of WTF moments (wait until you deliver the second-to-last princess and see her...:)) and also have a few references to classic videogames (like Mario).


Graphics:
Like said multiple times: Graphics do NOT make a game good, and in that case it does a bit though.
The game is very VERY cute and offers (in my opinion) the best graphics on the Wii with Okami and Super Mario Galaxy. It's very colorful and features some of the best cutscenes EVER with pastel feeling to it.


Gameplay:
This is where it's a bit bad: though it is simple, the control over the king can be a bit of a confusing thing.
A is for sending the troops, B is to retreat, Z is for targeting the ennemy/hole/tree/... and the D-Pad is for the control of the camera and reorganizing the troops as wall as switching between three positions: attack, defence, and escape.
There is no text tutorial at the begining, instead, you'll have to talk to one of your three councellors which isn't a huge deal after all.
My main concern was the targeting system: Why not using the pointer of the Wiimote? I don't say it is bad by any means, it just doesn't feel right at some points during the game (for example there are 15 monsters on screen and you want to kill one in particular (the leader of the bunch), well it will be difficult; as you'll have to be in the correct position to attack him...)
Some of the boss fights are still manageble, as sometimes the gameplay completely changes and you'll have to die once or twice before you understand what to do ...


Music:
Yoko Shimomura did a very good job with the music, since she had to do classical music "remixes".
The themes all go very well with what happens at the moment you play.
Some themes will get stuck in your head for quite a while after you finished playing.


Presentation:
Overall, graphics and music blend perfectly together and the world you live in feels like it's alive: the citizens talk to each other, they walk, they work, they go to sleep...
There are some severe framerate issues when you start having more than 25 soldiers with you and when there are more than 15 monsters around... But it luckily doesn't appear very often.
The character design by the guy behind the monsters of FF12 is very charming and you'll be laughing in front of your TV when you'll see some of the kings.
The game feels like an interactive fairytail.


Overall I'll say what Dark Issun said : IT'S AWESOME (DI: GL4D Y0U SH4R3 MY 0P1N10N, L0053R)

Now, the positives and negatives:
+An interactive fairytail
+The world presentation
+The Graphics
+The Music
+The inventive bossfights
+You have to use your brain
+The controls are most of the time very good
+The WTF moments
+You'll rarely/never get bored
+Also boobs
-Some fights can turn into a mess, thanks to some sometimes faulty controls
-Managing the troops can sometimes be a disaster
-Some big framerate issues
-Some ennemies can swipe all your army in one shot
-The Oni figurine didn't get here (I want it so bad)

FINAL SCORE: 9.5/10

PS:Sorry if there are some typos or misspellings
PS2: Some of the scens depicted in the pictures, sadly, do not happen (the cows and the dragons:( )

Seriously, what do I need to say more ?
IG Magazine is a mook (contraption of book and magazine) which talks about videogames and so in this issue, they'll talk about fighting games, girls and gaming and survival horror games.
It comes out July 27th at 8.50 Euros in France and Belgium (sorry guys)

(Warning! This post might contain spoilers and might absolutely suck!)

In my opinion, Chrono Trigger is one of the best games to deliver to the player a sense of choice : each playthrough will be different, from the previous one (Well, if you don't try to do exactly the same thing, that is...).

If you say the good thing that is.
Right after the title screen and the entrance to the fair, you are confronted with a load of opportunities and nearly every action will have a consequence during the trial. It is only then that the player realizes that the story is managed by himself and becomes a semi-author of the story, as the game is still scripted for Chrono (French spelling ;)) is automatically sent to jail.

The biggest thing about this game are the multiple endings: depending on when the player wants to fight Lavos (you can fight him right at the beggining in new game +) and what he has done before, it can radically change the conclusion of this tale.
For example (Major Spoilers !), at one point you are offered to fight Magus to avenge Glenn's friend or spare him, because you know he wasn't totally bad all along although he killed a few people in his process of destroying Lavos. Depending of your decision, either you have a new party member or not. (For me, when this choice was first presented to me, I fortunately created two save slots just in case and so in the first one I spared him, and in the second one I killed him, but immediately after killing him, I felt so bad I turned off the DS...)

One thing I liked a lot is also that some endings are influenced by the sidequests: in the main ending for example, Lucca's mother will either walk or stand on the fountain depending whether you saved her during the sidequest which Chad Concelmo did a Memory Card on http://www.destructoid.com/the-memory-card-55-the-fate-of-lucca-s-mother-122089.phtml

In conclusion, the gamer is the master of the situation in Chrono Trigger and makes in the end his own story.
Ps: If this post absolutely sucked, feel free to send insults, as it is my debuts in the Musing territory

http://www.gamekyo.com/group_article8095.html

I have videos from the next Disney, the Princess and the Frog (SPOILERS !), Ice Age 3 ,which comes out Friday in France (maybe is it already out in the US, I don't know), Planet 51 and 9 (the next Burton animated movie I think)

The Princess and the Frog looks amazingly awesome as well as Planet 51 which looks promising.
I can't tell about 9 though it looks great, the characters are weird-looking and Ice age 3 is really hyped here, so I fear some disappointment.

In bonus there is a trailer for Ponyo, the next Miyazaki movie, which came out here already 3 months ago though I haven't seen it, so I can't tell if it is as awesome as Totoro or not.