Hello everyone, and welcome back to the grandest adventure on Wednesdays! (Yes, I’m exaggerating, but work with me here, ok?) It’s another week here, another boring week of no job and no money. I’m still in the desperation stages, and as of writing this, I still haven’t applied at some of the places I had said I would. That’s my problem with getting a new job (and why I shouldn’t have quit to begin with). The actual process of applying and hoping and praying that you get called is excruciating. But it needs to be done. Tuesday will be my day (the 9th). That’ll be the day that I hit up every place under the sun in hopes that there will be room for me somewhere, so I can pay my bills and start to pay off my parents.
I want to say thanks to everyone who wrote in with words of encouragement. It’s for you guys that I keep doing this (well, and myself as well), and I really appreciate everything that was said. I even got one negative, but it doesn’t discourage me. To that person, I may end up removing the anime from the column, but that doesn’t mean it’ll go away. If I do, I’ll make sure to tell everyone though.
I haven’t really been doing much with my time, as opposed to last week. I’m not as far in to the Wolves of Calla as I would have liked, because I’ve been trying to divide my time between it and some comics I’m reading. And the comics are winning. I’ve finally gotten to read some interesting titles I’ve heard about, namely Agent-X and The Exiles. The former is a silly romp with EXCELLENT art for the most part. The folks at UDON do an EXCELLENT job with the art, and it has a definite anime style, which is something I always dig. It makes me wish Manga weren’t always in Black and White. The Exiles is another series that I REALLY enjoy, and it’s especially nice with the revolving cast of characters. They do it in a way that’s different from most team-based titles, because they have a set amount of members, and whenever a member DIES, they get a new one. So there is a lot of sadness involved in it. I also finally got to read the new generation of Uncanny X-Men and New X-Men, and I really like that too. I remember why I grew so fond of comics to begin with. It’s too bad that my favorite comic (Excalibur) basically went to shit about halfway through the run.
I also got to go to the Tulsa Zoo for the first time in ages yesterday, and I got to see how much it has changed. It’s not the best zoo in the world, but it’s still nice. Most of the animals were hiding, like one of my favorites, the prairie dogs. I got to see the tiger and cheetahs though, which makes me happy.
That’s really all that I’ve been up to lately. So yes, I know you’re tired of reading about my life, so let’s get on with the news.
Gaming News
Square Enix’s JUMP Festa 2004 Lineup
Oh boy. This is gonna be big! On December 20th and 21st, the JUMP Festa will be held in Japan. And Square Enix has a lot to bring to the plate. In playable form, they’ll have Final Fantasy X-2 International + Last Mission, Dragon Quest V remake, Front Mission 4, Kenshin Dragon Quest (the sword toy that hooks up to the TV), and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories for the GBA. They will also be showing movies of Final Fantasy XII, Kingdom Hearts II, Front Mission Online, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, and cell phone games of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. This will be the first time that much will be shown of FMO and KH2, so hopefully some juicy details will be released. Man, I wish I lived in Japan.
Credit: RPGFan.com
ActRaiser Resurrection?
It has been announced that Square Enix has registered the word ActRaiser as a trademark in America. No other information is known, so it could be a re-release or a sequel. Either is fine with me as long as a) if it’s a re-release, they only release the original or b) if it’s a new game, they make the gameplay follow the original. In case you couldn’t tell, I hate the sequel and LOVED the sim AND action gameplay aspects of the original ActRaiser. I also wouldn’t mind a remake/sequel of something like Soul Blazer or Terranigma. God, I love those SNES Enix games.
Credit: RPGFan.com
Sega and Sammy Together Finally?
Despite the problems they had during the course of their attempted merger, Sega and Sammy are apparently friends after all. And to prove it, Sammy went and bought over 39 million Sega shares, giving them over a 25% ownership of the company. And on top of that, Sammy’s president said they may buy more shares at a later date. Personally, I think Sammy scrapped the idea of a merger, and want to buy out Sega outright.
Credit: RPGFan.com
Electronic Arts Sued By Sega
Speaking of Sega, it appears that they are miffed at EA for the release of the Simpson’s Road Rage, which they claim infringes on their trademarks for Crazy Taxi. I can’t really comment, because I haven’t played either game, but I do hope Sega wins simply because I like them a whole lot better than EA. HAH! Journalistic integrity my ass!
Credit: GamesAreFun.com
Christian’s Crazy Game Releases
Keep in mind, these are ship dates and are not set in stone. Game companies LOVE to push stuff back at the last minute, so don’t blame us if it’s not right. Also, since it is a ship date, it may take several days to arrive at your favorite store, depending on what it is, so please call before rushing over to pick up a game that may or may not have arrived.
Dec 10
Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone (GC, P2, XB)
King of Fighters EX2: Howling Blood (GBA)
Monster 4×4: Masters of Metal (GC)
R-Racing Evolution (P2, XB)
World Championship Pool (XB)
Dec 11
Beyond Good & Evil (GC)
Dec 12
Culdcept (P2)
Midway’s Arcade Treasures (XB)
Pac-Man World 2 Bundle (GC)
Sims: Bustin’ Out (GBA)
Ten Pin Alley 2 (GBA)
Dec 13
Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly (P2)
Release dates courtesy of Christian at Game Crazy. Everyday at Game Crazy, you get 12 Free Rentals (Good on either movies or games) at Hollywood Video with the purchase of any new or refurbished console. That’s a $72 Value! Check Game Crazy.com for the store nearest you!
Christian’s Comments: Another slow week for releases, which I don’t mind. I can tell people about all the other great games that have come out in the past couple of months, or show them some good used product. But one I will be telling them about is the new Fatal Frame. From what I’ve been reading, it’s scary as hell! (Just what you want for Christmas: No Sleep. At least maybe you’ll meet Santa that way, unless you blast him with a shotgun first…)
Lee’s Comments: I have to agree with Chrisitan here. None of the games on this list really appeal to me except for Fatal Frame 2. I fell in love with the original, not only because it was a unique look at an overdone genre, but also because it was the only game I’ve played that genuinely creeped me out. Plus, I was able to pull RPG elements out of it, and you can’t beat that. Now is a time where I could use money to go rent this baby!
AODs Weekly Anime Release List
December 9
Corrector Yui Vol. #3 (Viz)
Final Fantasy Unlimited Vol. #2 (ADV)
Heat Guy J Vol. #3 (Geneon)
Inu Yasha Special Edition Set 01 (Viz)
Master Keaton Vol. #4 (Geneon)
Neoranga Vol. #6 (ADV)
Nuku Nuku Dash Vol. #2 (ADV)
Orphen II Vol. #1 (ADV)
Sugar Vol. #5 (Geneon)
Super Gals Vol. #3 (ADV)
Ultraman Tiga Vol. #1 (FUNimation)
Yu Yu Hakusho Vol. #19 (FUNimation)
Thanks to Anime on DVD who posts these release dates and I rip off on a daily basis. This site is one of the best places for anime news and reviews, as well as having the best anime forum on the web.
Release of the Week: Inu Yasha Special Edition Set 01
You know, I’m really hard on Viz, and for very good reason. They will often license good shows (such as the one we’re talking about here) and then release 3 episodes per disc with no extras, which makes the money spent on them a big waste of money. This set will hopefully rectify that. It’s the first three discs and it retails at $50. Plus, it’s limited edition (limited to 15,000 copies). So it’s certainly an excellent buy. Plus the show is pretty damn good. Sure, the voice acting could be better, but it’s the best that comes from Ocean. So buy this, because it’s worth it!
Purchase at Anime Corner Store and The Right Stuf.
Links to the Past
First and foremost, I want to give a nice warm welcome to 411Black! It’s the newest section here on 411mania, and it gives all the great writers here a chance to go off topic, if they so desire. I may actually take the anime section from this column (and flesh it out, of course) and put it on the Black. So read those great columns!
Thank God It’s Thursday News Report – Bryan Berg
Bryan’s almost done with school! PSX Ships in Japan, sans most of the worthwhile features. Leland Yee is a jackass. Nintendo is king of Black Friday. And Game Boy is king among toys!
The Angry Gamer – Liquidcross
Mega Man History Part Six, The Future. It’s sad to see this series of columns end, but I know his next will be just as good.
We Want Our Tea Back – Misha
Journalistic Integrity is the subject. And everyone on the site but me has some.
Encore Extra Stage News Report – Alex Williams
DDR Sells 6.5 Million! More on the expensive piece of shit that is the PSX. Wonderswan is going out of production. Pikachu! ZOE2 Special Edition. And of course, HAIKUS!
Gamer’s Hangover News Report – Cory Laflin
Cory’s almost done with his masters, horray! Video game rentals. Verizon wireless games. Xbox live connecting families. Two big online companies merging.
411MAX: News News Revolution – Alex Williams
Sega and Sammy are friends. Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire in Japan are buggy. Sega sues EA. Dammit, quit taking the news I’m using! And Squenix has some greatest hits, so buy Xenogears and Vagrant Story, because they rule.
Sega CD Lovin Part 1 – Alex Lucard (and others)
Didn’t have one, didn’t play anything on it, but the writing of the column is good, so READ IT DAMMIT!
Here’s some reviews:
Medal of Honor: Rising Sun – Michael O’Reilly
Pokemon Channel (GC) – Alex Lucard
Oh, and one last thing. I’m referring to Hodgepodgeatorium on 411Black. For the record, I have no problem with this writer. I don’t really know him. And I don’t want to get on the race issue, but I’ve never understood why it’s been OK for two black people to use the N-word amongst themselves, but under no circumstances should a white person be able to use it, no matter what connotation it’s used. Personally, I think either everyone should be able to use it (under a good connotation) or no one at all. Then again, the word cracker has never offended me in any way, so I don’t see what the big deal is with it. Maybe I’m just stupid or something.
Ok, that’s it for this week. Come back next week for more ass kicking courtesy of moi! Enjoy the rest of the week, and read everybody else AND 411Black!