Naruto X Hinata

Call me a predictable but I've always been a sucker for Hinata. Her character just tugs at my heart strings. The fact that Naruto is completely oblivious is even more why I feel for her.

I stopped watching Naruto Shippuden a while back but after seeing this video and hearing the song, I'm beginning to want to watch it again. All in hopes that they will finally explore the love between Hinata and Naruto.

On to something video game related,
David

Good job to the maker of the video.

Yes, I'm Still Here

I wanted to take this opportunity to explain why I have been absent from the site for the past week or so. My life has been hectic to say the least and despite my attempts to make time for games and updating the site, I have been unsuccessful. Also, allow me to apologize for the post-ponement of two podcasts this month. Because of various things going on in my life at the moment, podcast episode 103 and the second episode of "The Revival Podcast" have been postponed:

Episode 103 - March 9th 2009 @ 10:00 PM

Our second revival podcast focusing on "Splinter Cell: Double Agent" was originally planned as our February episode but I have decided to push it back 2 weeks and make it our March episode. This is once again, attributed to my schedule and I apologize to the community for that.

Revival Podcast Episode 2 - Weekend of March 28th (Tentative Date)

Now, about my absence. Please don't confuse my lack of updates and participation this week as a sign of my wavering commitment to the site. I still love the gaming industry as much as always and I still am 100% committed to making this website the best it can possibly be. Unfortunately, until I have finished school and found myself a real job in the industry, I simply can't devote all my free time to the site. I have always been dedicated to doing my part and doing what I can and I plan on bringing a great show to the community week after week as always.

In the past week, I have not touched a video game. It sucks because I am still dying to finish Valkyria, Splinter Cell, and start a dozen other games. Last Sunday, Teresa and I survived an amazing Slipknot concert in San Antonio only to be rear ended by a jackass only moments after leaving the parking lot. It caused a 4 car collision and has made my life increasingly difficult over the past week. In addition to that, the onslaught of four major exams and a paper to write have filled up most of my time I have spend outside of work. Despite all this, I intend to make this weeks show a good one and I hope to play something before hand so I can have something to mention during impressions. I am off to continue school work but there are several posts I have been thinking about making recently that I intend to get up before the end of the night.

Once again, I apologize to our community if I haven't seemed committed recently. Expect me back in full force just in time for a new podcast and of course, I plan to spend all next weekend plowing through Resident Evil 5 for the show! Thanks for the support and I hope to be back in the swing of things shortly.

-Nick

One fighter is clearly better than the other. Round 3 is why Tekken 6 worries me.

Rage mode is the problem. When your oponnents health is down really low, they become especially strong. I'm sure this is designed to make matches more intense and "close", but this "rubber band" handicap system is shitty in a fighting game where a well timed juggle can already take 50% of someones life un-raged.

I hear they toned this system down a little in the expansion (which we are getting as our console version), but if they don't have the option to turn this shit off, I will be very very pissed.

Brad

I Sincerely Apologize

So I did a random search for my name earlier today. This is what I found...

http://www.xanga.com/tropicanNa/6741923/item/

To tropicanNa, I apologize. I don't know what it was that I did back in 2002 to make you upset with me, but I'm sorry. Honestly, I don't remember you. 

If you would like though, I would more than be happy to buy you dinner. Call me?

Hahaha,

David

So Tweet Us?

Ok, so a few months back I was recommended to make a Twitter. It's just been sitting there and I have no idea what it is used for or what I'm supposed to do with it.

I do know that if you want, you can have it "tweet" you whenever we go live. But as far as what I can do with it or who I can follow, I'm at a loss.

Anyone want to explain this to me?

Thanks,

David

Oh here's the link

http://twitter.com/4playerpodcast

Wow, Where Have I been?

I was looking at the Japanese sales list for this week. Pretty standard. Congrats to Yakuza 3. Star Ocean made an appearance. A One Piece game. King of Fighters. Wii Fit.

WTF!!!! 

03. Mario & Luigi RPG3!!! (DS) - 52,000 / 307,000

When did this game even come out?? February 11th? This whole time I was waiting for them to finally slap a name on it and it's already been out for a month. And somehow it's still third on the sales list? What is going on?

I'm excited about the game. It's been a while since I played Mario & Luigi: Partners In Time. But I'm a little worried this is more of the same. They've added a feature to play as Bowser who is the main focal point as Mario & Luigi have been sucked into his stomach. I guess we'll see when it comes out. No release date for the states however....

Thanks,

David

Nintendo has had a platformer series they have been keeping from us for years.

Stafi? Stafy? Starfi? Starfy? Who the fuck knows? All I do know is that we are finally getting a North American release of a popular 1st party Nintendo series that has been around for years in Japan. This stood out for me as one of the few interesting releases on Nitendo's giant fucking list of upcoming shovel-ware for the DS and Wii.

Take Mario, Kirby, a lot of water, and a fuck ton of cute, and you get The Legendary Starfy. This may look like a baby game, but I assure you, the series has already had 5 games in Japan and all have been very well received. The game has excellent art and animation, as well as some pretty awesome music.

I believe The Legendary Starfy is the 5th game in the series (there have been 3 GBA and 2 DS games), but that's fine, you have to start somewhere. Here is a trailer:



The real question is will a character this cutesy actually work in this country? We have Kirby and all, but we all know what happened to him over here. Well we will certainly find out soon enough. With the market Neo Nintendo has created, I guess now is a better time than ever before.


Brad

Community Blog (thecosmicfly) - Killzone 2 Impressions

Ok, here are cosmic's thoughts on Killzone 2 which started a very lengthy thread over in the forums. Quite a few people have added their impressions, so make sure you drop in and post yours. There are some light spoilers in this post, so be wary.

thecosmicfly on Killzone 2

"For me, I've just rented it today and I'm almost finished with the campaign (I'm surprised I haven't gone blind from all those hours. :\ ). Graphics clearly don't need to be mentioned since we all know what it looks like, by which I mean they look absolutely phenomenal. Although a few effects are pretty underwelming (The flamethrower and medigun laser are pretty hideous) the overall style and look is amazing, and does deserve credit in the graphics department.

Even after some tweaking with the controller settings the gameplay still doesn't feel as tight as it should. You can't have quick hip firing and have slow, steady zoom in aiming. The sensitivity is either high or low no matter what. It takes time getting used to it, and it does give the game a somewhat unique feel, but I'm not too happy about it. Lean and Peak works great most of the time, even though it has the problem most games with cover systems do (Getting stuck on a wall even though you don't want to be). On a random side note I do wish blindfire was kept in there even if it's not as effective as a TPS (It still would've been neat to have, and we need one game that has to put the 'blind' in blindfire back in).

The areas tend to be bleak and dark a majority of the time, but you do get to travel to unique locations and set pieces, including a Gears of War-esque train ride, a Star Wars: Attack of the Clones like factory and even one level on one of the ISA Cruisers.

Vehicle sections are brief but entertaining, especially the EXO Suit romp againts the Helghast. Tank could've handled a bit better though.

The story is... adequate. It gets the job done and explains what and why you're doing things, and there is drama added into the mix. I won't spoil who dies in the game, and really their deaths don't come off as good as they should, but the amazing Orchestra score helps to get some emotion out of the scenes (Did I mention KZ2's music is kickass? No? Well it is. A lot). There are plot holes and inconsistencies that I find extremely stupid though, one of which is one of the games more important parts. The excessive profanity will get right on your nerves, thats for sure. I mean swearing can be fine, but it feels like it's thrown in the dialogue either because they couldn't think of any adjectives or to earn an M/18 rating. It doesn't feel need most of the time. Rico is a douche, full stop.

OMFG BOLT GUN AND LIGHTNING GUN KICK MAJOR ASSCHEEKS.

And that's all I can think of to say about the game so far. A word of warning though. I started on Veteran (Hardest difficulty already unlocked) to see how things would go, and now I regret doing it. This game is HARD AS HELL. No really, it's not always the challenging sort of hard, but the throw your controller at the cat or grandma type of hard. Sometimes the AI is good at one upping you tactics wise, but the game just like's flooding you with 14 Helghast soldiers from all sides that are a little too 'nade tossing happy. And some sections they respawn repeatedly until you advance enough. I can think of 3 occassions where the game has been rediculous with the difficulty, and one of them is the last level of the game, which I'm stuck on now. D: If you're going to play this game, please put it on easy so you can have a fun time killing and less time going through trial and error.

I hope to have a go of the multiplayer soon. Heres to hoping it makes the game worth purchasing, and praying that the Assault class doesn't become the most spammed/noobish class (Watch Gametrailers Killzone 2 Badge videos if you wanna know what I mean).

Updated Impressions

Finished the end of the game earlier today. That final battle still was a bitch. God I'm glad there are enough checkpoints, but it was still a cluster of fucks. Radec was pretty cool to fight against, especially with how he evades and sneaks up on you. But after that entire legion of Helghast soldiers, flametroopers, captains and rocket launching mofo's, it didn't make me think "Oh this is sweet" but more "Just let me get this fucking mission done already!".

After seeing the ending, I now literally HATE Rico. He was mostly irritating throughout the game, but what he does at the end now makes me want to slaughter his wannabe tough guy ass. D:<

As for the multiplayer...

So far, it's great! The most fun I've had in an online game for a while now. The reviews have praised the multiplayer, and it deserves it. Everything is so deep. The ribbons, badges and medals system are on par with CoD4's xp/perks system, if not better. It will take a while before things do start to get interesting (You need 350 points alone just to unlock the first class, and need to play 8 or more matches to get enough ribbons to unlock a medal and recieve new abilities. But because the core objectives in a round are enjoyable enough you'll eventually get there.

The on the fly Mission Objectives are brilliantly executed. It always keeps things moving. One minute you're defending an area and the next you find yourself turned into the assassination target. Its amazing.

The maps are surprisingly great as well. Infact I'd say there's a wider colour palette in the multiplayer maps than most of the singleplayer. Corinth Crossing would be my favourite artistically. There are so so SO many levels and layers to each map, and they're extremely huge with multiple paths. There will be times where a stalemate occurs between both teams and all it takes is for two guys two go down an empty path, outflank them and you'll turn the tide of the match.

The only real problems I have are the shooting controls. But those also come under my complaints about singleplayer as well. Its not too damaging to the experience, but when you want to fine tune that aim for a distant headshot or are caught going in circles when in a close quarters battles, the sensitivity just isn't fully up to the job.

Even having said that there are still loads of huge and minute points that make the multiplayer extremely fun. If you're in a Squad you can respawn at your squadmates position. If you're an assassination target and you're mortally wounded (Down on the ground but still just alive) you can still win the match. Hell, even the sound that goes off when you make a kill is satisfying.

I've rented this game for a week, so we'll have to see when I return it if the multiplayer is addictive enough to make me purchase it. At the moment it looks like I will be.


And yes, we need to have a 4PP Online Night with Killzone 2. Preferably on the weekend though."

---

Keep up the good work

Brad

Video Blog: David Answers

Hey so I had a question come in.



David

Return of Online Night

We used to do something called online night. We'd pick a game and play with the viewers. First if was Bomberman Live!, then we did some GTA IV, some Rock Band, and then finally Left 4 Dead. We've been meaning to get back to this but we could never find the right day.

So starting tomorrow we're going to start having online night again. Every Thursday night. From around 8 PM to 10 PM. That's the tentative schedule depending on Brad and my weekly work schedules.

I'll be playing tomorrow night, Bomberman Live! for the Xbox 360. The game supports up to eight players. For those who are interested please be in chat and have the game purchased and ready tomorrow night. I can't add you to my Xbox Friends List as it is full, but we'll have instructions on how to join tomorrow night.

See you tomorrow night,
David

Also if you have suggestions for other Online Games, please leave a comment.