This has been on Kotaku, so people either a) already know or b) don't want to hear about it. Plus there is no way I can sustain this posting rate.

BUT: NEW PERSONA 3 FIGURE

AND IT IS BY ALTER



Background: This is Elizabeth, Igor's assistant in the awesome Persona 3 - and Alter make sweet, sweet vinyl figures. A good example is their Revy (Black Lagoon):



For Persona 3 fans, they also did the definitive Aegis:



And their version 4 KOS-MOS is equally amazing!



Those are a few of the Alters I have. I would purchase more, except for the issues of food and rent.

Also: new Oneechanbara VorteX figure, also by Alter! There have been two already that I know of, so this is slightly less exciting, but still awesome.



For reference, here is the other one I have. Notice that Alter's Aya has gone up a cup size.



(At some point I will photograph my collection and bore people with it)

The Oneechanbara VorteX game is great and I totally recommend it! No worries if you do not know Japanese; really it is just a fun hack and slash. Think a much more awesome Samurai Warriors style game, except with bikinis and cowboy hats. There is a sequel for Wii which I would absolutely love to play, but no Japanese system :-(

Unlike others, I do not have an impressive story of a much-loved classic. I could not afford a NES, Master System, or any other console of the time. Instead, I was lured into gaming by a small collection of terrible, terrible Commodore 64 games.

Let me explain!

1. Elektra Glide

THE FIRST FANTASY RACING EPIC.





I have no idea why I was so impressed with this. Even at the time the reviews were terrible. Game goes like this: vroom, vroom, drive endlessly across a glorious eight-colour landscape in a car* you cannot see. Pass occasional trees! Gaze upon mountains that inexplicably turn yellow!

I played this game for hours and hours, traveling forever towards the horizon, never once searching for a point. Being 8 years old is awesome!

* except the picture above now tells me it was a bike! Who knew?


2. The Hobbit

Jesus, this game is terrible. Not terrible in the slightly good way of the others, just...terrible. I think I need a thesaurus.



See those graphics? They represent Tolkien's magical world of elves, hobbits, and ugly green doors. In his position, I would rise from the dead and sue.

I also never finished this game :-( More precisely, I only once got out of the first room. That single time, I was magically transported to some sort of shed, where Gandalf occasionally popped in and spent some quality time not helping me at all.


3. Shockway Rider

At 8 years old, I thought this guy was the coolest person EVER.



And the game was so exciting and futuristic! Amazing cityscapes, places called Skull Alley, dudes with shades, the works. And of course, moving pavements populated by evil criminals!



As Greg 'Cobra' Follis, the world's toughest vigilante and most epically-named lead character, you ride the shockways and beat people up! Then a new level starts, and you ride the shockways and beat people up! Then another level starts, and....yeah!


4. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

Another text adventure, but actually awesome! Sort of. At least, it reads like Douglas Adams wrote it. Unfortunately, at the time I had no idea who Adams was and so made it about 15 minutes into the game before I got stuck. Anyone know how to get the Babelfish out of the Vogon machine?

The start of the game, only marginally before I started feeling stupid:



Again, you have someone following you around being unhelpful. This time it is Ford Prefect - at least slightly less irritating than Gandalf, who could have magicked me out of that fricking shed if he'd wanted to :-L

---------

I credit my decision to play this crap to three things:

1. I was 8 and video games were strange and magical constructs
2. They were all free
3. In a weird way, they were kind of awesome! Yeah, gaming has come a long way, and games are crazy deep and wonderful now. But there is something to be said for a game hashed out quick by a couple of dudes. The Hobbit may be akin to punching yourself in the face forever, but the other games are sort of sweet - and it is amazing what held our attention 15-20 years ago.

All pictures originally swiped from Lemon 64:
http://www.lemon64.com/
Go there! Fantastic site and hugely entertaining :-)

Other people have probably posted this! But I thought it was pretty interesting:

http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/06/03/lego-indiana-jones/

Temple would probably be hard to convert! Darker than the other films. Rendering human sacrifice in Lego = bit close to the bone.

Just finished the Raiders episode, and so far I am super impressed. More puzzle parts, and despite expectations they were not completely trivial. The fight with the boxing Nazi dude took me 20 minutes to figure out (slightly embarrassing, I guess).

Raiders is my absolute favorite of the original trilogy, so I wonder whether the other episodes will be a let-down. Doubt it though; Lego interpretations of Indy scenes are always imaginative and funny, and there is still the same drive to find secrets, collect all the bonuses, and unlock all the characters. Not sure what Traveller's Tales do when they make these games, but all that secret stuff is like crack. I spent hours on freaking LSW 1 and 2. I think any hope of good PhD research just flew out the window.

And then Lego Batman is released! Batman is not quite as awesome as Indy (I may be alone on that count), but Lego anything rules supreme. I am still holding out for Lego Spider-Man; the Spider-Man 3 game broke my heart into tiny, tiny pieces, and I think only a New York made of plastic bricks can heal it.

Arguably more entertaining than any of the Spidey movies:

Real Question:

MGS1, or Twin Snakes?

Inconsequential Backstory:

I am new to this blog thing! So I will start with a gaming confession: I have never actually finished a Metal Gear Solid game.

I watched the ending to Snake Eater on Youtube and I just fake the other stuff. I can't follow the full storyline, and MGS4 is looming :( :(

So, I am replaying through the MGS Essentials box set! Awesome right? But I am trying to decide: finish Metal Gear Solid 1 for PSX, or play Twin Snakes for GC?

A friend tells me that Twin Snakes is awesome because of Ryuhei Kitamura's cutscenes (the Versus feel). But I dunno, retro is appealing.

Decision must be made. My Snake figure is judging me from the shelf, because I bought him without truly understanding his inner self :(

Testing, yo!