Ending B

For a while, I had been looking forward to the release of Metriod: Other M. Before its release, I decided to look around the net for some reviews. The reviews seemed to be mixed, some thinking it was good (not great) and others thinking that it's horrible.

Since I recently got G4 back on my cable TV plan, I've been watching X-Play again. So far, their review seems to be the most damning. Take a look for yourself.

If what X-Play says is true, then I may be postponing (or canceling) my plans to purchase this game. More than the gameplay, I'm concerned about Samus pining over a man and only using her weapons and abilities when he tells her to. At bare minimum, I think I clearly need to do more research.

On August 3rd 2010, EA Games announced a new game on their website.: The Sims Medieval.

The article itself is pretty... well... short and chintzy. But it does promise the ability to create a kingdom, go on quests, and make heroes. I hope this is going to be as awesome as it sounds. Hooray for micromanaging! Expect this game on PC and Mac in March of 2011.

Click here to read the original article

It's almost the end of July, which means it's almost time for Otakon! Most of the Ending B crew will be in attendance as characters from a certain CLAMP story... stories? I dunno, semantics man. Anyway, we'll be there in costume for most of the weekend ready to enjoy the Anime convention. Hope to see you there!

Otakon or bust!

Welcome to another installment of "So I've Been Playing" (or SIBP for short). Today, we're going to be looking at Nintendo's Super Mario Galaxy 2 for the Nintendo Wii.

I wonder if Mario will ever learn to speak like a human being?

So, did I like it? Love it? Hate it? Well... to be honest...

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World, meet the Pokemon: Black and White starters. Pokemon: Black and White starters, meet the world.

Quack/Hiss, ... Um... khew?, and Oink!

Not a lot is known about these Pokemon (seriously, I had to look all over the net for ANY info on them). All I have are the following:

* The green lizard/duck thing is the grass starter called Tsutarja. I'm guessing that the name will change in localization.
* The blue otter (who has been eating clams off of his tummy) is Mijumaru, the water starter. It could be 50/50 whether that name changes in localization or not.
* The red pig is Pokabu, the fire starter... pig. I don't think I like the barbecue implications.

Well, that is literally all I have. But as we draw closer to the release date (as of right now, Fall of 2010 for Japan) we will learn more about the new region of Pokemon.

Seriously, a fire pig? Lord, I can hear the bacon jokes now.

Pokemon info/pictures found at Bulbapedia and the logo found at Seven Sided Cube.

Somehow, I missed the fact that K-On! just came out with a second season. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to watch it now, but maybe I'll give it a watch over the summer. The second season is "creatively" called K-On!!

I think I like season one's OP and ED songs better (the OP sounds like it's being sung by the Chipettes). Speaking of which, if you haven't seen season one, I do think it's worth a watch. It's a fun show, but don't expect anything groundbreaking.

I'm going to be doing a rhetorical analysis of the different versions of "Wind Nocturne" from Lunar Silver Star Story and Lunar Silver Star Harmony. However, after a lot of searching, I couldn't find a video of the Harmony version. So...

Yeah yeah, it's not a direct video rip from the PSP version. I used a stock video I found on my hard drive and the MP3 I got off of the official soundtrack. Of course, the official song is twice as long, so I had to use Audacity to edit the song to get it to the correct length. Despite the little clicks in the audio, I'm pretty happy with how this turned out.

I'll do a rhetorical analysis when I get the chance (probably sometime this summer), but I hope you enjoy this in the meantime.

I found this video while looking around Kotaku.

Granted, a lot of my confusion probably steams from my inability to understand Japanese, but still... this is just odd. And apparently this is an official trailer/video for Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (which I'm guessing is a PSP game from looking at the graphics), so will this have something to do with the game? Probably not. I'm guessing it's some sort of music video. However, knowing the creators of the Metal Gear and their love of... well... the strange, I wouldn't put it past them.

Song is catchy, though.

In November, I promised a post about the best games in the Final Fantasy series. Though it wasn't ready before XIII's release, it's less than a week after, so I guess I can count that as a win.

Once again, here are the rules that I set forth for not only this part of the retrospective, but as a whole as well.
1.) Unless stated otherwise, only the games in the main series will be analyzed. AKA, Final Fantasy 1-10 & 12. The main reason Final Fantasy 11 is not a part these lists is because I strongly believe that MMORPGs cannot and should not be compared using the same criteria as console games. They are two almost completely different things. So, the other 11 core games will be analyzed.
2.) If a list we create states "Best or Worst of," then the order is that of preference (least liked to most liked).
3.) This is a new rule that I'm adding specifically for this post: Remakes/Re-releases are not eligible for analysis. Original releases only.

So, here it is. Ending B's "Best and Worst" of Square-Enix's Final Fantasy series. The results are a combination of my votes along with the votes of others who are either members of Ending B or are affiliated in some way. The opinions on why the games got the ranking they did are mine alone. One more note should be that this review may contain spoilers (just an FYI).

A special thanks to Kim Samson who put this picture together on such short notice. You can find more of her art on MHHO.com or on her deviantART site.

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On March 1st, Capcom released Mega Man 10 on the Wii Virtual Console. As a few of you know, I've been playing Mega Man games since before I knew how to read, so of course I downloaded this game. As of now, I've only defeated the eight robot masters, so I haven't completed the game per se, but I'd like to give you my impressions so far.

Finally, I don't have to pay extra to play as Protoman

Please note that the following review may contain spoilers. Viewer discretion is advised.

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