OK, time for another quick blog to put some stuff out there that's been on my mind, but haven't had the chance to write about "properly".

* First up, after getting torn up in the comments of the BlazBlue review, I went back to playing Darkstalkers to see if I was totally insane for thinking the two games were similar. I was right; if Blazblue had Demitrii and Morrigan in the mix, it really could pass for Darkstalkers 4. The similarities are all over the place. There's the obvious stuff like the supernatural/sci-fi characters, the way the game plays (air-dashes, combo system, Counter assault/Guard cancel, Distortion Drive/Dark Force, etc) but more so, a lot of the game's actual moves were lifted from Darkstalkers 3. Use Donovan, Hsein-Ko, L. Raptor, Jedah, Felicia, and Q-bee for a few minutes and you'll see moves that were originally unique to the Darkstalkers series, but are now being put into use in blazBlue by the likes of Rachel, Lichi, Taokaka, V-13, and Arakune.

Sure, the BlazBlue's system is a lot more like Guilty Gear than anything else, but Guilty Gear was also made by most of guys who made Darkstalkers, and has tons of similarities to said series. I mean, if you have any idea what Guilty Gear is, then you likely already know all about BlazBlue. Darkstalkers fans, on the other hand, may not have followed the Guilty Gear/BlazBlue evolution, as neither series was published by Capcom and therefore may have been ignored. They are a group of gamers that have been loyally waiting for the next Darkstalkers to come out, and may not know how much Guilty Gear/BlazBlue has in common with the series. Those are the people I was talking to to in the review, not the die-hard Guilty Gear fans who bought BlazBlue day one.

And really, is there anything wrong with playing/feeling like Darkstalkers? The series is legendary. I mean, people still love the game's characters to this day, despite the fact that therre hasn't been a new entry in the series since forever.

Oh, and for you Darkstalkers fans, if you were living under a rock like I apparently have been, you may not know about the video below. Apparently, in the Japan only PS2 Vampire: Darkstalkers Collection, there is an "evil Donovan" character named Dee that is basically a palette swap with Donovan.

Crazy.



* Man, it was awesome to see Anthony and Jaffe's back and forth last week. Thing is, I don't think either of them gave games, and game developers, enough credit. Jaffe claims that art games don't sell, or are just too hard to make, but just off the top of my head I can think of five art games that sold just fine.

To me, an "art game" is a something that uses properties inherent to videogames to do more than just give you the opportunity to kill a bunch of people. play virtual Solitaire, etcetera. One way to do that is to use the "broken fourth wall" that comes with nearly all videogames to give the player a surreal experience. For instance, the "How do you know the Beatles are real?" moment in Seaman is a true "art game moment" that I still tell people (gamers and non-gamers) about all the time. Seaman was failry popular in Japan, garnering a PS2 sequel, and it was published by Sega. It even had god damn Lenord Nimoy in the mix. It was no small time, indie affair. To a lesser degree, non-indie games like No More Heroes, Metal Gear Solid 1-4, Contact, and even fucking Nintendogs have pulled off similar moments.

People may knock Nintendogs because it's cute as hell and popular with the kidz and the wimminz, but the game is no slouch in delivering fourth wall breaking, head scratching moments. The first time I realized that I could grab a "idea light bulb" or a "''I'm hungry!' glowing bone" from above my dog's head and feed it to him was an eye opener the likes of I'd never had in gaming before.

I agree with Anthony that in order for games to move forward, in terms of respectability and in terms of plain old entertainment, they need something big to come along and show how unique and powerful the medium can be. Comics needed Maus, and more recently, Persepolis, (and countless others) to start showing the world that comics were more than just "geek media", and I don't think that videogames have had those kinds of breakthrough moments just yet.

Honestly, I think Anthony may have sold a few truly successful, truly "artistic" games a bit short. Jaffe, on the other hand, might not want art games to get big, because that could put him out of a job, or at least, bump him down to a less well paying one. He makes games for people who want sci-fi/fantasy/violence in their games, and not much else. Basically, he makes "superhero games". I know the big name superhero comics guys were not to thrilled when avante garde', autobiographical, and other underground comics started to make it big, and perhaps Jaffe feels the same way towards art games.

I don't know, if I'm lucky maybe he'll rant me a response.



* Shit, I love Animal Crossing: City Folk. The game has so much more to it than I knew back when I reviewed it last year, I almost wish I could review it again. After about ten months of semi-regular play, the game still surprises me. The thing about it that I really love is that it doesn't hold your hand in figuring stuff out. I really had to figure out for myself exactly when and how to catch a Petaltail dragonfly (among others). Knowing that I only could catch it for the next few months, and at a certain time of the day when I'm rarely free, made the moment when I actually caught it all the more awesome. There are a lot more moments like that in City Folk than there were in past Animal Crossings; moments where you have to be in the right place at the right time, plus show some skill, in order to get everything right.

Compare that to a game like Bioshock; a game that anyone can "win" as long as they don't get discouraged by the frequent but ultimately non-consequential deaths they'll suffer along the way. Animal Crossing actually takes a lot more time, effort, and dedication to really "win" that traditional "hardcore" games. Plus, like real life, all of your accomplishments are really all in your mind. That's more of a "hardcore" truth then mos tM rated games are willing to share.

For instant, I just got a gold debit card in the mail (in Animal Crossing). What does it do for me? That's right, nothing. It's just a status symbol, just like the gold debit cards in real life. It's just another example of Animal Crossing being a semi-subtle parody of the stuff about being an adult that makes me think that real life is, in fact, retarded.



* Jesus, I went back to playing Um Jammer Lammy to research some stuff I'm doing for Dale, and it blew my mind. The game is honestly more fun that most "advanced" music games today, funnier/weirder than most Adult Swim shows, and the songs are catchy as hell. Why hasn't Sony brought this series back, with the option to play with all those guitar shaped controllers collecting dust across America?

As I've said a million times, the number one thing I think Sony fucked up on with the PS3/PSP is a lack of utilization of it's past franchises. Nintendo learned with the Gamecube that it can't rely on too many new IPs when starting off with a new console, and that's a lesson that Sony seems to be learning now the hard way. Sure, they brought back Ratchet and Clank, but those characters never really gained the same kind of following that old Sony Japan studio hits like Parappa and Ape Escape have. There are tons of old PS1/PS@ franchisees that Sony hasn't touched in years.

If Sony wants the PS3 to appeal to fans of the Playstation 1 and 2, they need to bring us series from those consoles. It was bad enough to ditch backwards compatibility, but to ditch nearly all of their old IP is just ridiculous. Don't give us a wand. Don't give us "OMG liliac PSP". Give us a Gitiaroo Man/ Lammy/ Parappa cross over that works with traditional controls and Rock Band/Guitar Hero instruments. Give us a new Ape Escape that's as epic as Super Mario Galaxy. Give us HD Jumping Flash.

In short, don't be ashamed of your history, Sony- flaunt it.

Nathan Drake may look like Tom Cruise, but for those of us that play videogames because they are an escape from hollywood movies and other more generic, predictable forms of entertainment, he's never going to compare to Captain Fussenpepper.