This is semi directed at Isomac, but everyone is welcome to read. :D

Okay I finished Ouendan 2 today and I have to say I think it's easily best of all of them. All the gameplay tweaks of EBA, more emphasis on good music with interesting rythm instead of plain nuttyness, and the artwork is insanely great. The barber battle was absolute bliss, and so was the finale. My favourite rythm game no contest, and I doubt I'll ever be bored of this franchise as long as the music is good and the cheerleaders badass. :D

One thing though that'll never change; Elite Beat Divas > the female cheerleaders.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games has made a modest 7.9 debut at IGN. Although it would've been nice if it was a roaring success, I don't think anyone expected it to be, and this might land it somewhere around the Raving Rabbids range of critical reception. Not too bad.

In other, purely Simon related news, I started Metroid Prime 2: Echoes yesterday, sooner than I expected. It's not that I want to rush through it or anything, I just found myself genuinely missing playing it. God knows what I'll do once I'm done with Corruption.

Aaaanyway, I was really expecting it to be virtually identical to the first Prime, but that was a rather inaccurate presumption. The most obvious difference is the setting and tone. It's not a harsh, unwanted emo makeover like Warrior Within was to Sands of Time, but the tone here is definitely much more melancholic than in the last game. Mind, even the first Prime had this sadness about it, but the backstory to this, aswell as the gameplay elements further the sense of hopelessness and dispair.

The weapon system and progression is really different too, and overall the worries I had that it'd feel like a chore to start a new, nearly identical 20+ hour quest were pretty unfounded. I just expected it to be after Halo and Prince of Persia.

...I really should just make a blog or something instead of ranting on about these things in here.


Anyway, last but not least, the lovely (heavenly some might say) song Heavenly Star - by Tetsuya Mizuguchi produced "Genki Rockets", also in Lumines 2 and recently offered as a download for Lumines Live - will be in No More Heroes. I have no idea how that'll fit in between the cutting people in half, but it's nevertheless cool to hear. I reckon the gaming world could do well with Suda 51 and Tetsuya Mizuguchi in a room together, and this is as good a start as any.

That really does look fantastic.

Yeah there's legitimate reason. I have two friends who feel completely different about things introduced and the whole tone I spoke of earlier. Also, I'm told the exploration is pronounced to the point where it's sometimes genuinely difficult to find out where you're supposed to go.

I dunno yet whether that or the ammo/weapon system will bother me. Time will tell.

It's a much more intimidating game than Prime because everything feels so hostile and unnerving. I think ultimately I'll appreciate Echoes for its change in setting, pace and tone, but I'm sure I won't love it as dearly as the first.

Sequels are all too often like the same joke told twice. Just because you laughed really hard the first time doesn't mean it's funny a second time. You might chuckle, sure, like a nod to how funny it was the first time, but it's also one of slight concern. "Yeah, haha, it's funny, now don't wear it out!". Of course, the games are usually spaced with 2+ years between them, and in that time you're expected to forget the punchline, but ultimately it's still a disservice to any medium that is timeless. I'm playing these games now, with far less of a gap between them.

Echoes does have a little bit of that but it's also different enough to dodge completely succumbing to it, and I can admire and appreciate that. However, the changes made to it slightly adheres to a different sense of humour (aaah, my metaphors are colliding!) and that's bound to put some people off.

She doesn't swear though, there's no metal music or blood splatter on the continue screen, so Retro didn't completely lose their sanity.

I think you broke the thread :O

It says "new" in green even though I've read the latest post. :O

Ah no, I fixed it. :D

Ouendan 2 pretty much slides in just before to enjoy a bit of GOTY time before Galaxy inevitably steals that title away. :)

I've just gotten to the female cheerleader squad in it, and it's SO INSANELY good. It's just getting better and better with each difficulty too.

Started Ace Attorney 3 too, which is bittersweet as it's the last game with Phoenix Wright in it. Man I've missed the judge so much. :D Awesomely written as usual.

What is multiplayer like? I haven't played multi in any of them.

lol, what the hell? You don't need to be rich, to be my girl, you don't have to be cool, to rule my wor...l...d.... this isn't the sentence I was shooting for.

You don't have to hit the poor thing like there's no tomorrow, I meant to say. :D

I got the soundtrack and my head is BURSTING with a few particular songs. Linda Linda is a favourite, the level with the cat and the cook in Ouendan. Also, "Music Hour", the one with the three ladies from Ouendan 2, and Okuru Kotoba, the sumo level off Ouendan 2.

Those three.. I keep going around humming them and dread the moments where people ask "where the fuck's that from anyway?"

And I'm like.. look.. it's like.. these three... male.. uh... male cheerleaders...

Usually by then they've either run off and hid somewhere, or they hide me someplace away from normal people.

Yeah, they really make me happy.

It's funny because I can recall a time when games didn't make me happy, not like this. I mean they were good, cool, fun, engaging, immersive, interesting, clever, etc etc etc, and they made me feel tons of different things all in good ways.

But now - and I think it started with Space Channel 5 on the Dreamcast for me, then took a huge break and returned with Katamari Damashi I think - they give me this simple, powerful feeling of happiness.

Now it's more common for games to make me happy, things like Loco Roco and LittleBigPlanet. They just seem to be made with such love, and in themselves they seem to BE messages of love. There's nothing pretentious about them, they don't try to be edgy or violent or epic or cinematic or any of that complex stuff.. they're just honest odes to happiness and love. :)

The only feeling I have greater than that of pure joy is that of surprise. Surprise that some people actually set out to make a game with only this in mind, and surprise that someone somewhere is willing to back it - willing to make sure it eventually gets to sit in my console.