Patapon

Crisis Core comes out for the PSP on the 25th of March. Thats tomorrow. One of two titles that persuaded me to purchase a PSP. The other title was Patapon. I saw it being praised on a couple of video podcasts, it got lots of great reviews and awards. Its gameplay is nothing but 2D. A simplistic real time strategy game where you maintain your units, upgrade their gear and progress through the storyline by just pressing 4 buttons to maintain the rhythm. Its really easy to learn and after a few minutes you suddenly become addicted to this game.

The story is about a tribe of people, Patapon, whose glory days were put to an end by the evil Zigaton tribe. You take on the role as their god and use these war drums to direct the Patapons to reclaim their land. As you take these people on the road to prosperity, there are some mini-games you can play. The gameplay gets increasingly challenging, you get more unit and you unlock more drum rhythms as you progress through the storyline.

For just $20 you get hours and hours of entertainment. Its very appealing to new people who aren’t gamers and the chanting the patapon characters do just gets stuck in your head. My Khala (aunt) plays it more than I do now. This game is a must play. The best of video games released in 2008. Its a new game of its kind. The entire artwork is just fantastic, thanks to Rolito, who’s been working on this for around 5 years.

1up gave it an A grade. Gamespot gave it a 9 out 10. IGN gave it a 9.2 out 10. The official website hosts a demo version for the PC. A nice move to encourage purchase of the game which is only on the PSP platform. There is no multiplayer in case you’re wondering. The site also has cool wallpapers and a fan art pack loaded with character jpegs and backgrounds.

“This game is insanely addictive, disturbingly fun, and maddeningly frustrating all at the same time.”
(Adam, 1up commentator)

See the trailer.

pata pata pata pon!!
chaka chaka pata pon!!

GDC 2008: What Microsoft’s pumping for the xbox360

Throughout 2007 I’ve had a great deal of arguments with PlayStation fanboys and it always boiled down to which console’s the best. Lets take the technical stuff out, since most of us are aware of PlayStation 3 as the most sophisticated gaming console and that the xbox is something like a “re-branded desktop computer”. Knowing how Microsoft had been engaged with game developers and how reviewers were talking about how “easier” it was to make games for the xbox in relation to the PlayStation, the xbox360 no doubt was leading the console war in 2007. Despite how the HD-DVD vs BluRay format war was going on in 2007 and how fanboys had been basing their arguments on the superiority of the BluRay to justify - in effect - the superiority of the PlayStation 3 over the xbox360, they denied to accept the success of Microsoft’s efforts to cross gaming with the phenomena of online social networking and whatever is going to follow.

Xbox Live blew the gates of innovation and out of proportion. For me, when I first heard of this being done for the xbox’s second generation console, this was it. They have to get this right to make it really really big. I was a Sony fan, someone who embraced the PlayStation during Sega’s dominance. But what made me praise the xbox was when Sony began to drown in a pool of arrogance and inability to bring something new to the industry. Yes! Nintendo has indeed made it big with the idea of having gamers move around instead of sitting on the couch for days, but I regard xbox live for gaming as something like facebook for the internet.

Full Story →