Big in Japan - Live! starts 1/28 at 5am EST on Justin.tv

Watch Big in Japan - Live! on Justin.tv

Hey guys. as you all no doubt know, for my work as a game journalist, I have to play through and review all the big name Japan first/Japan only games. So I figured if I’m going to be playing these games for work anyway, why not stream it to the net so everyone can watch. I don’t really plan on having any kind of running commentary while I play, nor do I feel like giving out a running translation, but I’ll be more than happy to answer any questions you type into the chat window.

First up is Final Fantasy I-VI creator Nironobu Sakaguchi's newest game "The Last Story." I'll be starting on 1/28 EST and should continue playing for the majority of the weekend. And if you get lucky, you might just catch a little bit of co-op play between me and fellow Out-Cast member Kyle McLain.

See you there!

The Out-Cast: Episode 14 - Game of the Year 2010 and Square-Enix Premiere Show

Welcome to the Out-Cast Episode 14! This time, the podcast is split cleanly into two parts. The first is our discussion on the Square-Enix First Production Department Premiere and what it means for Square-Enix in the coming year. For the second half of the podcast, we are once again joined by 1UP and Wired's Dan Feit where we talk all about the best and worst games of 2010. Feel free to post your own bests and worsts in the comments bellow. Enjoy!

Download: Mediafire, iTunes

Streaming: Blip.tv

00:00:00 Introduction

00:00:30 The Square-Enix First Production Department Premiere

• Final Fantasy Versus XIII
• Final Fantasy XIII-2
• Final Fantasy Type 0 (Agito XIII)
• Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
• Dissidia 012: Prologus

00:32:50 State of Square-Enix

00:38:05 Follow up 3DS News

00:48:12 2010's Games of the Year!

• Late to the Party Award (Best Non-2010 Game)
• Guilty Pleasure Award
• Biggest Surprise Award
• Worst Game of 2010
• Top 3 Games of 2010
• Most Anticipated of 2011

Music in this edition:

Koi wa dogfight - Megumi Nakajima

Sophitia's Theme - Soul Calibur OST

G-Blast Ver. - Tekken 6 OST

SQUARE ENIX 1st Production Department Premiere

Final Fantasy Versus XIII Trailer

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Trailer

Final Fantasy Type Zero (Agito XIII) Trailer

Kingdom Hearts 3DS Trailer

Watch em now, before they are taken down.

Ow! My childhood

As I made obvious, I have indeed started playing Final Fantasy IX as I so DESIRED. Out of the first few Final Fantasys I've played, it's the one I progressed in the least but also the one I'm most confident would maintain my interest beyond the point I quit, so it'd be silly not to try it again...

Playing this first part of the game reeked of negativity, I can quite easily relate it to being bullied in high school, being ill and the disgusting taste of chicken soup. Now to explain... last time I played this game was when I was waiting to have my stomach x-rayed, I couldn't eat anything too filling, it was vile and this was during my second year in high school, which I recall being the worst.

I've also now been vegetarian for 4 years so if chicken soup didn't appeal to me much then well errr... Bad memories aside, the first part of the game really is similar to torture... why? Well the main reason being that you engage in absolutely no action and instead spend ages collecting pointless shit that Square has conveniently scattered EVERYWHERE.

The most action you do get is playing card games... you can learn how to play using the handy tutorial, however it doesn't really teach you what the hell the random letters and/or numbers on the cards MEAN leaving you to continue guessing through the rest of the game... the cards, what are they trying to tell me? What does 1POO imply? D: Can ANYONE enlighten me?

A reoccurring element to the Final Fantasy series which immediately became obvious is the fact that no one is bothered by you breaking into their house and pillaging it. Go on kids, follow in suite! :D

I'm really making it sound like I hate this game right? That's not true AT ALL. :P I know for a fact that things begin to pick up soon, I'm even tempted to record a little...

05/11/11 update: I went ahead and did a Let's Play Short of Final Fantasy IX, that can be found here.

Atmosphere or Annoyance?

 I'm open to all kinds of judgement here.

The other day my boyfriend was playing Silent Hill 2 for the first time, he was rather freaked out by the game and occasionally fired a question or two my way in regards to what happened next... each time he did, I wouldn't give him a straight answer, oh no no no... I either answered his question with a question of my own or... provided him with complete uncertainty instead of a 'yes' or a 'no'! I also kept dropping the odd sentence here and there to create a little more paranoia, you know the kind... 'are you sure you want to do that?' :P

Now hopefully with your understanding, we venture back to the title. I'd like you to answer this question... does this kind of behaviour add to the atmosphere of games or is it just plain annoying? :)

The Out-Cast: Episode 13 - 3DS Hands-on at Nintendo World 2011

On this episode of the Out-Cast we talk about our hands on time with the 3DS at last week's Nintendo World 2011 game show. We are also joined once again by Daniel Feit who has written for 1UP, Wired Game|Life, Bitmob and Gamepro magazine.

Download: Mediafire, iTunes
Streaming: Blip.tv

On this episode we talk about the 3DS and the following games:

• Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
• Pilotwings Resort
• Resident Evil: Revelations
• Kid Icarus: Uprising
• Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition
• Metal Gear Solid 3D: Snake Eater
• Kingdom Hearts 3DS
• ...and many more!
  

In a week or two expect our "Best of 2010" show and our special episode all about "The 3rd Birthday"

Music in this edition:

Destiny Girl - Minato

Help Me - Erin

I love playing the BITCH!

I recently repurchased Mercenaries for Playstation 2 since it was selling for cheap; it came out in 2005. It's a fiction based game with a little influence from a potential future reality; the game is set in North Korea and military action is taking place, not by one nation, but numerous nations, thus creating factions... it's partially controlled by The Alliance (formed by USA obviously), China, Mafia Russia and South Korea, other than them there is of course a North Korean resistance. As the title states you play a mercenary, you must work for each of the factions in order to discover and capture your main goal: the generals of the North Korean army with bounties on their heads... you get to do lots of dirty work, so much, fun.... this game is all about a mercenrary who's after nothing but thrills and dirty dirty cash, they're willing to be anyones bitch and that's what I love doing the most. ;)

Did I mention this game has a sequel? It's called 'Mercenaries 2: World in Flames' and it's never going to be mentioned on this blog again... everyone knows that when someone mentions that game, a puppy dies... imagine what happens when somebody plays it? D:

Okay, so about Final Fantasy...

It's getting boring... IT MUST END NOW.

I think my ultimate downfall has been the fact that I set the game to normal mode as opposed to easy... it's caused the enemies to be a lot more powerful than I expected, subjecting me to hours of mind numbing grinding and well... I foresee many hours more. Ironically here's a little quote from the first post I made on this blog in regards to Final Fantasy; "When presented with the choice between Easy and Normal mode... simply because I'm not a n00b, I chose to go on normal mode." I shall now go ahead and eat those words... om nom nom.

So yeah... alas... it would appear our heroes have been...

Well... no, not really, I just killed them off... so err below's a mixture of reflecting and regrets.

Gordon, I'm sorry that you'll never be able to afford your own mansion, real estate and that potential break into global monopoly... I hope you can still go on looking the part.

Fabio, I couldn't get you very far up the hairdressing career ladder, in fact, you couldn't even get your hands on something sharp enough to sever a hair?

Ashley, that sex change operation, sorry, you ain't getting it... is that even what you wanted?

Rogan, perhaps professional wrestling would be more your things? You can't hold weapons and seem quite good at being unconscious... you've got the right outfit for it too.

Now to vow to myself that I won't ever try and fulfil my 'quit and restart' fetish by attempting to start playing this game again from the beginning... 

So now that's out the way, guess what's next? Subtle hints are hidden throughout the post. :P