Get a grip (grapple?): Umihara Kawase

(tags game, Dual Screen, Umihara Kawase, PlayStation Portable)

My right thumb hurts from pressing buttons too hard. It's a death grip on my grapple button, since one miscalculated release will have my avatar plummeting to a watery doom.

Umihara Kawase (海腹川背). I've only recently discovered this old gaming franchise. The demo game station showing the PS1 version at a retro game store captured me for about 20 minutes. I saw the PSP version at my price threshold of 2000 yens and decided to jump in.

UK is a Bionic Commando with no forgiveness. Basically a fantasy platform game, UK asks me to traverse ledges with nothing more than my fine-tuned swinging control. Yes, abilities are not unlocked. It all depends on my skill. The heroine, Umihara Kawase, has this strong yet elastic grappling hook made of red-white twine and fish hook. It is a source of constant frustration and delight. It feels so... analog. It feels like there's a physics engine in there.

The fishing cuisine theme pervades the levels and the enemies. The title of the game is a play on a Japanese cuisine preparatory phrase, "Ocean fish are fatty in stomach while river fish are fatty (tallow) in the back." (海の魚は腹に、川の魚は背に脂がのっている) Or so the manual claims. My well-read Japanese tutor never heard of that phrase though.

Enemies are these strange walking fish. Most of them are one touch, one kill. But the worst ones aren't the ones that kill me right away. They will hit me into an uncontrollable stun for a few seconds. This game plays with my mind. Will I fall off the ledge or not?

But the best enemy is the environment itself. UK doesn't give me any help or hold my hand. There is a technique to swing up to a higher ledge. At first I thought it was impossible. But after dropping the broken PSP version and coming to terms with the game physics on the higher quality DS port, I am executing the technique with a high success rate. When I can hit this technique on the first try, in a fluid motion, I feel like I'm in control. However, when I mistime the release, I have to wait and re-fine-tune my swinging motion to propel me in the right direction.

This reminds me about the difference in forgiveness. I was playing Bionic Commando on my Xbox 360 and one of the regular techniques to propel myself forward is to jump off a platform from behind and grapple. It's a sweet maneuver full of kick-ass, right? BC makes this feel totally safe and dependable. I try this move in UK and I sweat bullets. I never seem to get it to work. Despite the millisecond-timed reflexes this game requires, I feel like it is fair. Well at least the early levels.

Which brings me to my pained thumb. Some of the stunts sequences require me to reenact Tarzan with no safety net. I am deathly afraid of falling, or even more so of repeating the same ground over and over again. I hope my DS can take the strain.

The DS version (海腹川背・旬 セカンドエディション 完全版) was released at the end of last month, which might explain why that game shop was demoing the older versions. Though I picked up the PSP version and tried to deal with the pain, I heard through the Internet that it was a broken port. I wasn't convinced until I played the DS version though. Another reason I picked up the DS version was that it came with a telephone card (at Sofmap Saurus). Silly me. Still this latest release sacrifices none of the difficulty, while at the same time modernizes the rewards with illustration gallery and soundtrack unlocks. The demo recording feature is also intact but not UI enhanced like the PSP version. The game comes with a port of the original Super Famicom version, the PlayStation 1 version, and a new DS path mode based on the PS1 version. The PS1 ports have the 3d like scrolling effects and more environmental art (like giant soy sauce bottles?!), but the SF ports's grappling hook physics feel crispier. Also the PS1 based modes seemed to have all the minor enhancements like practice mode with success/miss counts and continues (!?) while the SF port doesn't even let me assign diagonal grappling to the top buttons. None of the gameplay seems itself seems to be affected or cheapened, but I don't really know since I haven't played the 90s versions.

I really want to keep playing this game despite the difficulty. I do wish though there was more easy levels. The difficulty just ramps up too fast.

Let me put my two cents about the heroine, Umihara Kawase. She appears in gameplay as some school aged girl (because her backpack looks like a randoseru) with no fear of heights (no fall damage). However the insert graphics make her out to be some 20 year old with sex-sells breast size and anime girly eyes. There's basically no story and no dialogue so I don't really understand why she has to become Indiana Jones/Pitfall Harry/The Last Starfighter/Ikaruga. Finally at the game over screen I see her in pajamas watching TV relaxing after a hot shower or something. Well?

Finally, the music is soothing and relaxing. I mistimed my grapple and fell in the water but the music just keeps me calm. It's all my fault.

Games like this remind me that the DS still has credible action games.

More Heart: ToHeart2, and other game pickups

(tags ToHeart, game, PlayStation Portable, Wipeout, Xbox 360, XBLA, Kimi no Yuusha, Dual Screen, PlayStation 3)

Just wanna say that I'm starting ToHeart 2 now, PSP version. I'm kinda annoyed it has the same music (but remixed) from ToHeart 1. 40 minutes.

Also I finished ToHeart 1, completely. Every picture unlocked, music mode, massage mode (Hocchan giving massages! well at least verbally). I think the best part was the unlocking of the shooting game. The last hidden scenario was not very interesting at all. Probably 25 hours.

I picked up Wipeout Pulse (asia version!) at Sofmap Nipponbashi South, after waiting for A-Too to drop the game's price (playing chicken with a shop just doesn't work). I felt like it was impossible for the first level, then I passed it and now I'm just sailing. 2 hours.

I even tried to get into my DS. I still have Kimi no Yuusha stuck in there. The last extra boss is really hard though. I cannot beat him, so I give up. 55+ hours.

I want to start playing Final Fantasy Tactics A for DS that I picked up a couple of weeks back during that Play-Asia and Visa card sale. 0 hours.

Man, this is starting to be a potpourri post.

Yeah, I also got some Xbox games like Ace Combat 6 and Bionic Commando for under 2500 yen, each. Nice (but used). I was playing the latter and I really like it the swing thing. It feels like Crackdown and you know I love games like Crackdown. It's the open environment jump-to-collect-them-all feeling. 7 hours.

Did I mention I picked up my first PS3 game? Motor Storm for like 1000 yen. I also saw the Atelier no Rorona limited edition (with laser etched crystal "objet") dropping in used priced down to 7500 yen, but that's still steep. The well-regarded Demon's Souls (US English edition) almost made it into my virtual shopping cart but well, I don't have a PS3 yet.

Um what else. I am not playing any PC games. Still waiting for StarCraft II to come out then I will make my last ever game PC. Oh I bought a ton of DRM free PC games from GoG's first anniversary sale including Duke Nukem 3d, but get this, I have not downloaded the bulk of them yet. WTF. I am still hoping they pick up Sinistar: Unleashed.

Uh, I am still scoping the Xbox Live Deal of the Week, and I recently bought yet another clear-3-colors game and the Sudoku clone. Hey, only 400 XBL points, each. You say the next deal is a cartoony golf game? 400 points? I'm there dood.

Can't win against Ayaka-ojousama (ToHeart 1 PSP)

(tags game, ToHeart, PlayStation Portable)

Instead of playing new galge, I'm still hacking on ToHeart on the PSP. It's just so convenient to relive my old PS1 memories through this portable machine.

I thought the Iincho/Hoshina scenario was my favorite, but it turns out the Ayaka Kurusugawa scenario is the more interesting story. It's too bad I have to finish the Aoi and Serika scenarios first to unlock it. Also, Serika and Ayaka are voiced by the same seiyuu, not just because they are sisters, but because Serika has so few voiced lines. It would be a shame to have another seiyuu for this essentially mute heroine. It's even worst because the seiyuu, Junko Iwao (岩男潤子 of Tomoyo from Card Captor Sakura fame), has such a lively, attractive voice. To hide this voice behind an unlock is a crime. However the Ayaka scenario does make up for it by being so positive and uplifting.

I've finished Hoshina, Akari, Kotone, Remi, Multi, Serika, Aoi, Ayaka. Now I only have Shiho and that ahoge musume. I think the Shino scenario is another tear jerker but I like her outgoing personality, so I'm looking forward to it.

Wanting Raystorm HD

(tags game, Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, RayStorm, shmup)

Raystorm. I feel all nostalgic about this shmup because I used to play in the Japanese arcades back during my exchange program. Now it's in HD and on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Wanting.

Well, I could buy it for the PSP but I really don't want to buy Sony points.

I could also play my PS1 version. It's around here somewhere. I'm pretty sure I don't have the PC version.

Every Extend Extra

(tags game, PlayStation Portable, Every Extend Extra)

Almost done with Hatsune Miku Project Diva PSP but I tried out Every Extend Extra on the PSP recently. Oh yeah I like this game. Before playing, I thought it was a music game. It turns out its kinda shmupity in that I need to be able to dodge bullets and inert crates while bomb-chaining for power-ups and score.

I was really frustrated with it in the beginning, but after an hour or two I began to see the patterns and the boss movements. Now I can get to the fourth stage. I really like the abstract patterns and how the stage skins change.

The action is few and far between, so its not very good for commute gaming. Gonna keep the UMD at home.

Remote control and evaluating used PSPs

(tags Playstation Portable, hardware)

I got one official remote control for the PSP-2000, called the PSP-S140. I was surprised that this hardware is not compatible across the whole line of PSPs, so I was extra careful perusing the used accessory bins.

Also the remote's buttons are full of fail. The volume controls and the rewind/fast-forward buttons are not discernible by touch. I clipped it to my shirt and mistakenly put my bag strap on top of it, causing the volume to rise. Ripping off headphones, now that's something that never gets old.

And I was foolish enough to try to buy another PSP-2000. You see, my current PSP-2000 is perfect in every way, except for one glaring black dot or dead pixel right in the middle of the screen. Now it doesn't really matter to the game play, but I see it every time the load screen comes on, and it makes me sad. Really sad. It's still a reminder for me how foolish I am to trust Sofmap's description of used hardware. I don't want to keep noticing it, reminding myself to try before buying, and forcing myself to ignore it. Argh, it never ends.

Anyways, the sales associates do not put any effort into showing how imperfect a used PSP is. Obviously its in Sofmap's best interest if I don't notice. But they do allow me to check the condition of the display while it is on. Every time though, I can't believe how inept these sales associates are. They try to show me the item without going to the staging area, instead balancing case keys, batteries, and the PSP in their hands. They blow and/or wipe on the screen with their own hand. They don't seem to know that the sell-back area has cleaning tools. They should know. The last time I asked if I can wipe the display with my own cleaning cloth. They gave me permission, and I was surprised.

So I've evaluated 3 used PSPs already, rejecting them all, I have come to the conclusion that anything below 16800 yen is imperfect, despite the (intentional?) spotless defect reports. I think I will give up.

Those models are all just the "Blume series: Rose Pink" color cases. I have some hope for the next iteration of the PSP (not the PSPgo), since one color coming in autumn is pinkish. I should get a PSP-3000 anyway for comparison.

All thumbs

(tags game, Playstation Portable, Hatsune Miku)

I am still plugging away at Hatsune Miku Project Diva (初音ミク プロジェクトディーヴァ), unlocking costumes. I finally finished the swimsuit costume unlock for Ruka Megurine (巡音ルカ), which requires beating all 32 songs at Normal difficulty/Great rating, or higher, using the regular Ruka costume. There is also another costume unlock which requires the same at Hard/Great. I tried to kill two birds with one stone, by attempting all 32 at Hard difficulty and getting Great ratings, but two songs are infuriatingly out of my grasp at the moment. I also jumped around the song order, so I was somewhat when the game didn't award me the unlock costume. After I re-did a song at Normal/Great, it unlocked. Yeah.

To unlock the other swimsuit costumes for the other four characters, I have to do the same 32 song thing using their regular costumes, respectively. Ah ha ha. I must not do them in Normal difficulty because that only exercises two buttons. Thumb, don't fail me now.

Hatsune Miku Project Diva: miku miku miku miku

(tags game, PlayStation Portable, music, Hatsune Miku)

Oh jeez, I wrote this two weeks back:

I've been playing Hatsune Miku Project Diva (初音ミク プロジェクトディーヴァ) for the PSP on and off, mostly on the bus and train. It's a great little music game with an easy/casual difficulty, reminding me of Pop-N-Tunes/DDR/DJ Max Portable rhythm games but only for my right thumb. I sure wish they used the D-pad too, because the rest of my fingers feel underutilized.

Basically you bask in the glory of Hatsune Miku doujin scene with pre-contributed graphics and music. Sega added a 3d model with some motion-captured dancing and PV frolicking. Very moé-kawaii. There's a lot to unlock, such as costumes (named Modules), and room items, which is for the dollhouse-like mode called Miku's Room. The background loading pictures unlock with time, also the songs need to be unlocked but seem to be a combination of time and level clears. The game gives you hints on how to unlock items, also these hints are unlocked with time, probably.

There are two songs in the middle I have not yet unlocked though. I am wondering what I need to do.

The actual gameplay is pretty rewarding, with simplistic rhythm patterns that match with Miku's voice. The game only asks you to press one button at a time, but the detection is pretty strict. Most music has easy to understand rhythm so even neophytes like me can get high combos, OMG 220+ achieved. The unlockables are easy to uncover, like clear a level 5 times and get a Great score. The placement of the buttons on the screen lead your eyes around, so it's not static like a DDR falling note/rising arrow display. However on Hard difficulty, where they ask you to use all four face buttons (circle, x, square, triangle), sometimes its hard to anticipate which button to press. Only then does the game ask you to start memorizing. One can probably get through Normal difficulty with a couple of plays on reflex alone.

As this is my first time to listen to some Miku music outside of accidental Youtube wandering, I am surprised at the quality of the arrangements. They are so Jpop catchy. I already bought the OST for this game, and I'm now interested in getting other official CDs.

I do have some gripes. Sometimes the screen is so active that there is framerate slowdown. The timing doesn't seem to be affected but its annoying to jump from 30? FPS down to 18? (I don't know the actual numbers). I also mentioned that this seems to be a right thumb only game. My thumb gets tired. I use my cellphone with my left thumb, so give me a break. It would be nice if they could use the D-pad. Perhaps it's a licensing issue. When you press a button during gameplay, the sound is a generic tambourine that is mapped to all keys. Each key should be a different sound like snare drum, etc.

(Back to the present)

I've made much more progress and I'm on the last legs of unlocking the costumes. Unforunately I needed a clue on how to unlock items with "yarikomi?" (「やりこみ？」) written on it. More on that later. One of the good sites for info is the 初音ミク -Project DIVA- まとめwiki. There was a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, called the 初音ミクProject-DIVA-チェックシート.xls for checking off progress. I'm currently using that, but imported into Google Docs. Thanks!

Two clear: Gears of War 2, ToHeart 2 and 1 Hoshina scenario

(tags game, Xbox 360, Gears of War, ToHeart, PlayStation Portable, gal-ge)

Woops I wrote this about two weeks ago:

I finally saw the localized version of Gears of War 2 for the Xbox 360 on the store shelves recently. Before that, I picked up the Chinese/English version of GoW2 for a nice used price of 2000 yen (yes A-Too rocks). I plodded through Normal difficultly with probably less than 30 continues. Yeh, 30 continues. Still, I couldn't believe how fast the single player went by. Then again I played it for one day straight plus this is a sequel. I like how there is now a partial indicator for Achievements. The "Seriously 2.0" Achievement requires killing 100,000 enemies. Going through the normal campaign was about 1000 enemies, and I completed it in a day, so it will take about 100 or more days. Without that partial indicator I would not even consider it. Of course, I rejected it.

And I picked up ToHeart 2 for the PlayStation Portable. I didn't pre-order, so I missed the special first edition. I got the regular edition after bugging the store clerk and holding up the purchase line. It includes ToHeart 1 (finally ported to the PSP) because it was the "W pack". Only after realizing the difference between the SKUs, I came to accept that I didn't need 2 small figurines and a bigger box. Well they weren't cute enough. I was satisfied with getting at least the Gamers tokuten: telephone card, paper fan, and PSP sticker set.

Yes! ToHeart 1! I put that in my PSP and smoked it. I put the ToHeart2 away. I cleared the iincho or 保科智子 Tomoko Hoshina scenario immediately because she's one of my favorite tsundere characters. And Aya Hisakawa is always alright with me. Even though this is the PSP version, it's full voice. Visuals are switchable from original 4:3 ratio and PSP 16:9 pan-and-scan mode. Both look passable. Unfortunately I was feeling nostalgia remorse for some reason. I didn't remember this scenario being so short, just 5 hours from the start. Plus I forgot that the scenario climaxed in bed, literally. (No sex scene of course CERO C but first kiss?!?). I was expecting a less vigorous ending, lol. It's that feeling of reading one's favorite book again and feeling the diminishing returns.

There is no force skip for unread sections, but thankfully I found the fast skip. Also Multi's seiyuu Yui Horie is as recognizable as ever. If I get back to this game, I will probably want to finish the other scenarios in this order: Multi, Remi, Kotone, Shiho, Akari, Kurusugawa-senpai, etc. Running this visual novel game on the PSP-2000 was pretty fast.

Now that I think about it, this is my fourth copy of the game. PS1, PS2, Windows (all ages), and now PSP. Geez.

I put Hatsune Miku Project Diva back in the PSP though because I want to finish that.

dead pixel begone... please?

(tags Playstation Portable, hardware, failure)

I didn't buy my pre-ordered copy of Hatsune Miku (初音ミク －Project DIVA－) yet, but to prepare I bought another PSP. So oh yeah welcome to 2008, but unfortunately the PSP-2000 is used and it has a dead or stuck pixel right in the middle of the screen. It's black when the background is cyan, and invisible when it is lavender-purple. Oh no.

My first two PSPs didn't have any dead pixels, so I was expecting perfection.

Obviously the thing to do is to get knowledge and run the pixel exerciser video. It's been running for 10 minutes, but no change. Let's let the video run overnight. I hope I win.

Last PS2... Jak and Daxter The Lost Frontier

(tags PlayStation 2, Jak, PlayStation Portable)

The reason I'm sitting in front of this computer and blogging right now is that stupendous news came out and I need to link to it. Well, stupendous to me anyway. Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier for PS2 and PSP. W00t! (Thanks Joystiq and Kotaku).

Now I must be behind the curve because some commenters on the blog complained that Naughty Dog's and Playstation 2's signature series hasn't yet graced the PlayStation 3. You know, welcome to 2007? I don't really mind though. It seems that Naughty Dog is preoccupied with the new IP that is Uncharted. That's another Naughty Dog series I wanna sink my teeth into. And the voice actor for the lead is the same guy as the "protagonist" in Prince of Persia 2008. (why haven't I blogged about PoP, that is my favorite 2008 game...)

I know that my 4th Playstation 2, which is US region, is just waiting for me to play something, something like Jak X Combat Driving, hahaha. I'm ready to buy Jak's last outing, so bring it.

I wanna watch Spider-Man 3... but can't (won't)

(tags UMD, PlayStation Portable, failure)

I watched Spider-Man 2 on UMD in quick impulsive bites. Oh, it's a super-hero flick. Somehow my current mood makes me expect more high-brow entertainment. Yeah right, I'm playing Trusty Bell now, that's high brow. Huh.

And I popped in Spider-Man 3 on UMB but it required a PSP firmware update to 3.51. Oh.

I wanna watch Spider-Man 2

(tags game, UMD, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, Dual Screen)

Just another random "I got more content" post.

I decided to skip getting Hitsuji-kun nara Kiss shite ageru (羊くんならキスしてあげる) the PC turned PSP game which has an outrageous price of 7000 yen plus. The main draw for me was the illustrator Naoto Tenhiro's work. As always, the drawings are cute and kawaii. I'm hoping to get the telephone cards through the auction.

I went out today to Yodobashi Camera. I was in the mood to get the MadCatz Xbox 360 controller, but of course they don't have it. The alternative was the Hori one, but it only comes in Blue. I decided to get a small portable foldable game controller for the PC called the Buffalo BBT-GC01. I decided on that because I wanted a one-handed PC controller, like for viewing web pages and playing visual novels. Using the freeware JoyToKey for Windows, it should be a snap to remap Space, Enter, Page Up, Page Down, Control, etc. The D-Pad isn't so bad. I gave it a whirl on Parsec47 and it was very fun.

I then went down to A-Too Nipponbashi. No Xbox Mad Catz Street Fighter IV controller pads, not even the PS3 ones. So I looked around in the bins for things cheep and picked up Too Human and Alone in the Dark for the Xbox 360, each for about 1500 yen. I wanna play Too Human because I liked the demo, but balked at the price. Alone in the Dark was just a whim, I'm actually scared to play it. (Wussy!) I also picked up the PSP-UMD versions of Spider-Man 2 and 3 and Pirates of the Carribean (2003). There's no PSP firmware restriction on the movies, which is nice. I haven't watched these movies yet, but they were more desirable than the Aliens vs Predator laying alongside.

Last thing I want to mention is that I went to Sofmap Zaurus and the Treasure Box floor is a shadow of its former self. Still there was this one box where I picked up other PSP-UMD movie Hitch, Crazy Taxi for the PSP, Blue Dragon for the Xbox 360, and NanoStray for the DS. The prices were below my cutoff for purchasing, so...

I forgot to mention that I purchased a lot of telephone cards, but no pictures so it didn't happen.

Too much stuff to do.

Just as pricey: Idolm@ster SP DLC

(tags game, Idolm@ster, PlayStation Portable, DLC)

One more day until Idolm@ster hits the PSP scene. I'm only excited for the store-based telephone card extras. Yeah, that's crazy.

I did not exclude the possibility of DLC, but to finally see an official page full of "horse armor" was shocking. (Thanks Gaijin Gamers) WTF, I didn't call it "horse armor" when I bought the similar things before. Anyways, 1000 yen for one dress, which is similar to the prices on the Xbox DLC. I haven't accepted the DRM on the PSP, so I doubt that I will use this DLC any time soon.

Will I see PSP toting McDonalds refugees playing Idolm@ster? I doubt it.

No PSP 2000 in sight (newbie's first response)

(tags PlayStation Portable, hardware, auction)

I can't be bothered to figure out how to install custom firmware on my two PSP 1000s, and yet I want to play the latest games with better hardware (more internal memory?), so I'm trying to find a PSP 2000. Sofmap only has a trickle of used PSP 2000s, and they are gone every time I recheck. Plus it doesn't help that I am finicky about the case color. I want the lavender purple, though Sofmap only seems to get the black ones. I could also go for the Monster Hunter Bronze or Value Pack Bronze (to match my Gold and Silver).

So just today I turned my auction sniping searching prowess onto this area. Whoa boy, this is a different sort of auction. The basics of auction buying, that is to say, bid, win, send money, receive, are pretty much the same. However the sheer volume of action from sellers and bidders makes me think I'm drowning in a ocean. Also, sellers add all sorts of for-pay options, which makes selecting an auction to bid a hassle.

It looks like the keywords for me are CFW (custom firmware), PSP 2000, 新品 (new not used), and LP or ラベンダー パープル (lavender purple).

Punch this: Side scrolling fighting games

(tags game, Dual Screen, PlayStation Portable, side scroll, fighting, Final Fight, Double Dragon, The Warriors)

I found my purple GBA Micro under a mound of dust. Along side it was Final Fight One and Double Dragon, so I took both for a spin again, but this time, on my DS.

Final Fight One is pretty good. I practiced the "3 punch, rest, 3 punch, rest" move with Guy. Turbo attack is fun. I beat the game on Super Hard with minimal effort. 

I turned my attention to Double Dragon. That was pretty hard, until I remembered how to stick and move. Oh, and kicking enemies into the water or spikes is just refreshing. I can't do survival mode though. It takes all my effort to get to 18.

I then remembered I had The Warriors on the PSP so I took that out. Hm, I find it hard to stay interested in this one. It's dark, visibly and morally. I mean I gotta mug NPCs for money so I buy spray to tag up the walls.

Kicking virtual 3D people while they're down is so abhorrent, but I can't stop doing it! If it's 2D, I don't have any qualms. Is there some kind of uncanny valley for fighting?

PSP wants and Hitsuji-kun nara Kisu Shite Ageru

(tags game, PlayStation Portable, hardware, Naoto Tenhiro, illustrator, DLC)

Now I want to spend some time with the PSP. Never mind that I own two firmware-crackable PSP-1000 series, I am searching for a new/used PSP-2000. I missed my chance because I thought they would still be available. The currently available PSP-3000 seems to have a wierd screen, though I haven't seen it in person.

I was checking out the available used hardwares. There wasn't anything available in Osaka Nipponbashi for PSP-2000. Well it was a pretty good week for the PSP, because Square Enix brought out a Final Fantasy product and it seems to have sold half a million in just a couple of days, w00t. I wonder if it's Monster Hunter "Square Enix" version or something. Ahem, yeah. Okay, today I spotted a bunch of PSP-2000 used. None of them are my desired pastel colors so I am still waiting.

Macross Ace Frontier is waiting for me. Also I will be picking up that Idolm@ster PSP series that will be appearing next February (it seems to be delayed). I do want WipeOut Pulse, and my copy is just pulling at my heart strings every time I go to the store.

Finally, I just learned today from reading Gamaga Magazine that a "heartful", Naoto Tenhiro (天広直人) illustrated game will be coming soon for the PSP. It's called Hitsuji-kun nara Kisu Shite Ageru (羊くんならキスしてあげる). The original work has been serialized for some time now in that glossy gal-ge magazine, E2 (Media Works/Softbank).

Also, it seems to have a PC browser only game, available from an online game distributor Playing Drama, since 2007/04 (appearing in serialized form). Looking at this page, I bet the PSP version is only a port of this web/PC game. Ah hahah.... I just realized that I won't touch this web/PC game version, because it requires an online connection. To make matters worse, this online service will end 2009/03/31 and there's nothing written about purchased DLC. This means it will evaporate into nothingness!!! Hahaha DLC Death strikes again! Time to salvage the free background graphics and other stuffs, since that's what I care about.

Actually, the seiyuu seem to be a good lineup, including Saeko Chiba (千葉紗子) and Ryoko Shintani (新谷良子). The PSP version will have the same seiyuu, so I look forward to hearing them. Also it seems to use a vertical screen orientation, which is pretty novel. Finally, there will be a telephone card omake for different shops. I hate this kinda of exclusivity, but I'm used to jumping through (expensive) hoops for Tenhiro stuff. Hahah.

Idolm@ster SP inbound

(tags game, PlayStation Portable, Idolmaster, pre-order)

It was news to me, but the Sofmap-only special 3 card telephone card set omake for the upcoming Idolm@ster SP for the PSP will come with its own backing picture frame and one more telephone card. (link is one month old)

Excellent. When I saw that my Sofmap Kobe printed out the actual picture, I grabbed the pre-order ticket without any hesitation.

I'm out 1_5000 yen. ;-)

WTB Macross Ace Frontier PSP

(tags game, PlayStation Portable, Macross, shooting, flight)

Acutally I want to buy that Macross Ace Frontier game for the PSP, but I'm waiting for two things. One is that I want to buy a new PSP so I can still keep my crackable PSP. However, all the PSP-2000s are gone, in preparation for the PSP-3000. Another thing is I'm waiting for a trusted online friend who like mecha more than moe to review it. I'm not sure if he finally got a PSP though.

I see that the infamous Famitsu cross review give it 8, 9, 9, 7 (issue 1035, 2008/10/17). No wonder Gamers Kobe had no stock left on a Friday night.

Shiren Adventuring and other fantasies

(tags game, Dual Screen, PlayStation Portable, Shiren)
(originally written: 2008-06-24 22:24)

I commented on Sub's Shiren's Mysterious Dungeon win. SMD is an Rogue-alike that puts forces you to consider gambling, as in gambling your life. Anyways his post made me want to get the English version of this DS game. Okay, the Japanese version is 2500 yen now bargain binned, but I rather play these inventory-heavy games in English. Play Asia sells the one I want for 3500 yen. Hm, no buy. I checked A-Too in Nipponbashi, and there was nothing. They are surprisingly strong with import console games, but not portable games. So anyways, I got the PC Japanese "Internet-enabled" version from 2003, just to get a feel. It was only 500 yen unopened. But I don't really like gaming on my PC anymore. Watch me track down the DS english version again.

Which reminds me, on Saturday I picked up Monster Hunter 2nd and Jeanne D'Arc for 880 yen and 1280 yen respectively. I gave the first MH a shot months ago but the first hour didn't hook me. The recent news about MH2G uplifting PSP hardware sales made me give the series a second chance. So I started evaluating MH2 but it feels so slow. "Now Loading". Everything is slow in this game. I'm sure PSP Lite won't fix all the loading screens. I feel my concentration ebbing, my brain becoming lethargic.

My Rubik's Cube hobby has poisoned my expectations by giving me feeling of completion, every minute.