The newest title in the critically acclaimed Nintendo series has finally recieved some new information. We now have a release date for summer of this year in Japan, and we now have an official site, which appears to be little more then a title screen.

Another look at the E3 Trailer:

*Update: Well Ive finished a bit more after like 100 setbacks.

Download Here

Well thats really it AGAIN and i'm off to sleep. . .

Lu~kun

In the first week alone, Biowares "Mass Effect 2" has sold over 2 million copies in the first week alone. And with an average score of 96, its safe to say the game was a success.

Hey everyone. So I'm being told that I haven't posted in, oh, what is it now? 2 months? Maybe even 3? We may never know. However, I recently bought a copy of No More Heroes Desperate Struggle for Wii, and damn, I can't stop playing it.

REVIEW
Oh No More Heroes, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

Story:
Unlike in the last installment, this game actually has a well thought out story. You are Travis Touchdown, the assassin who walked away from a huge tournament of assassins 2 years ago, because you grew tired of the spectacle. Well 2 years later you're back, and literally EVERYONE wants a piece of you, the "Crownless King". As Travis begins his trek back up to the top of the ranking matches, he is instantly hit with the murder of one of his dear friends, Bishop. This sends the disturbed Travis into a frenzy, killing endlessly until not a single person is alive to stand up to him.

The story starts out very interesting, but then floats away as you fight the other ranked opponents. Sure, every now and then it's fine to ignore the story and just enjoy the action, but the problem persists when you realize that the story doesn't actually develop until the very last hour or so of the game. This isn't a big issue, however, as the game isn't looking to wow you with an epic story of betrayal or some kind of Shakesperean story of love, lust and revenge. No, this is your basic tale of guy gets murdered, friend seeks revenge, friend ends up falling in love, manages to get said revenge, and totally gets with the hot chick. Basic story, but it is oh so delicious.

Presentation:
Suda 51 and Grasshoper Studio are both very famous for making games that have a focus on presentation, and boy, does it ever show. The game is simply beautiful, from the varied arenas that you fight in, right down to the very last panty shot, this game has a ton of detail. The art style was definitely a good choice, making sure that the Wii's struggle against HD console's didn't show one bit during the entire game, making sure that the style immersed you and never let go. The idea here was definitely to wow you with CG and the weird and wacky characters in the game. Let's just say they handled it, well, perfectly.

From the blood spurting out of the last guy you maimed, down to the stadiums and flowery fields you fought in, this game didn't skip a beat. The world is wonderful, providing new areas and never reusing an old motif or the like. The only issue that Suda and Grasshoper had was that the enemies (not including bosses, mind) mostly looked the same. There wasn't a whole lot of variety in them, and they all pretty much shouted the same lines as they were being split in half. It was never THAT bad, but seeing the same opponent get cut in half twice and having them both shout the same things as they perish? That tends to make me think, are all people wielding crowbars like that?

Gameplay:
The smoking gun of the game, the gameplay. Suda 51 and Grasshoper did a good job of going back and fixing what didn't work for the first game, adding in new moves, making seemless gestures between strikes and slashes, and even allowing you to switch targets. The Gameplay has certainly been fixed, but has it really improved? In the grand scheme of things, no. You are still hacking and slashing the same guys as the last game; this time, however, you're a little faster with the dodging and button mashing. And although the fights themselves aren't particularly clunky or obnoxious, the fact that Suda had to put in 200 of them in one area does tend to make the ingenuity scale take a massive nose dive.

That's not to say that all fights are tedious, ooooooooh no. Let's not forget about the greatest point of the game, the Boss fights. Damn. I can't really say anything because they were so awesome! There wasn't a single battle I didn't like, and since there were something like 14+ of them, Suda did an extremely kick ass job of keeping them all different in their own way. No two bosses were alike, and every boss required a different strategy. Some bosses you had to take cover and take your time with, others you had to strangle out otherwise they would destory you in a matter of seconds. Either way, there wasn't a single bit of monotiny between these fights. Nice job, Suda 51.

Verdict:
A-
For a non-mainstream game, this one deserves it's props. Many times better than it's predecessor and definitely a contender for Wii's game of the year. It's got a lot to live up to, going against Mario Galaxy 2, Other M, and even a possible Zelda title. But I sincerely hope that NMHDS can live up to the hype. If you've got some extra cash, go get it, because this game is too damn good to put down.

~Peace

Well, that was....uh...a mess.

Halo Legends continues with its (awful) third episode, detailing the attack of a Covenant ship by Master Chief and a bunch of other Spartans with regular household names. (Fred, I mean honestly?!?)

Created by Casio Entertainment, The Package is a completely CG animated episode that is heavy on action, low on just about everything else. As you, dear reader, can probably tell, I didn't enjoy this episode, not at all. While I can say I like high octane action as much as the next guy, this episode took things to the next level. We were barely a minute into the enstallment before bullets were flying and people were dying. This itself isn't a bad thing, heck Star Wars did it, but The Package makes no attempt to explain istelf or its characters. People just exist to die and to shoot nothing more. Spartans die left in right throughout the episode and we feel nothing. In fact, their deaths feel so corny and tacked on that its actually annoying to see these characters die. It doesn't even make sense. Why would genetically enhanced superhumans die in such stupid ways? There is even an attempt to include a subplot including The Arbiter from the Halo video games, which falls flat and doesn't make sense with the chronology. The dialogue is also awful. I'm going to give an actual transcript from the end of the episode (trust me spoilers don't matter here):

Dr. Hasley: "You really are lucky. You know that?"

Master Chief: "Not lucky enough. We lost two Spartans today." (Which is completely incorrect seeing as atleast three died.)"Solomon, Arthur. And that Elite we encountered...he was strong....I have to be stronger..."

Dr. Hasley: "We all have to be stronger. Something tells me this is just the beginning."

The End

I kid you not. That's how bad it is.

The action itself is fun to watch, and there are some creative sequences, but without the emotional imput or logic it falls flat. The animation is also fairly impressive, but not for an anime. My brother happened to walk in when I was watching this episode, and he asked why I was watching game cut scenes. It doesn't look or feel like an anime, just a bunch of CG super soldiers shooting and dying.

Score: D+

Unlike its predecessor, the next episode of Halo Legends follows the Elite culture and the creation of the Arbiter in the Covenant. This episode creates possibly my favorite story out of the Halo Legends anthology, but suffers form design flaws that hamper it from being the truly great piece of entertainment it could be.

Created by Production I.G (Ghost in the Shell,Blood: The Last Vampire) The Duel follows Fal an Arbiter who is accused of heresy by one of the leading prophets of the Covenant. Fal must then struggle to protect his honor and his family, and take out the leading members of the Covenant.

The story for The Duel is well done and actually quiet emotional. Touching on the best themes of the Covenant from the Halo games (especially Halo 2), Fal's story of religious heresy is accesible and engaging. My only true complaint is the ending which is on the corny side to say the least.

The design for the Duel could be called unique to say the least. Fal's struggle is depicted as a mix between CG animation, and almost water color like backgrounds. The resutl is a visually striking perspective which can be beautiful at best, and distracting at its worst. The beautiful backgrounds and stylized character designs tend to blur together in many of the action sequences and it is often difficult to comprehend.

One design decision that bothers me particularly is the design of the elites. The overtyl Japanese culture is to be expected but feels incredibly out of place. The elites have also changed in appearance. Lacking are the four hinged jaws that set them apart from generic aliens, the elites look more like velociraptors in kimonos. Its even more distracting when other elites have this feature. It makes the design feel haphazard and bizaare.

Overall, The Duel is an enjoyable episode of Halo Legends with an engaging story, and interesting visuals if you can get past its poor design choices.

Score: -A