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Ever since Team Ninja’s Tomonobu Itagaki decided to resurrect the Ninja Gaiden franchise, Ryu Hayabusa has risen to fame as the greatest action hero in gaming. Making the transition from the calm seas of 2-D to the vicious 3-D waters was never going to be easy, but Itagaki’s sunglass powered foresight made it happen. It is still a mystery why Itagaki-san bet his chips on Ninja Gaiden instead of making some sort of X-Men game…he is the Japanese cyclops after all (never wondered what was behind those glasses?)
Two remakes later (Black and Sigma), we will finally witness a new chapter in Ryu’s saga until Ninja Gaiden 2 hits the Xbox 360 sometime next year. And who would have thought that the graphically intense, action-heavy, extremely mature Ninja Gaiden will see its next chapter unfold on the Nintendo DS? Doubts fogged my mind as a Ninja Gaiden on the DS seemed almost next to impossible (unless it was another cheap 2-D rendition, that’s what all the other devs do, don’t they…the lazy bastards). But here I am, with an early build of Ninja Gaiden DS tucked neatly in my DSLite. So lets take this Ninja Dog out for a stroll and find out if it only barks or bites as well?
This week on Top 10 9 Thursday, we will look at the best original songs ever heard in a game. But obviously, we couldn’t add the gazillions and one songs present in the sports and racing titles in the market (since most of them weren’t specifically made with the game in mind). The songs present here enhance the experience of the game they’re featured in, by either fleshing out the plot better and in some situations, add a certain flair to the game that just makes it so much better. Many great games are played and forgotten, but when we hear these numbers, all the amazing moments that we experienced flood our brains like crazed Halo fans on launch day, as we fondly recall all those sleepless nights spent playing the game. Three minute nostalgia shots, that’s what we like to call these little ditties.
These last two years have been almost like a plethora of revelations for me. Among those major shocks, there are those I concluded in the following: dogs can sneeze (in all my years, I haven’t seen something this hilarious), frogs reproduce asexually (poor bastards don’t know what they’re missing), girls are a big pain in the neck (and hole in the pocket) and that a guy can actually get bored of kissing. I also realized that if I stuck to my motto of PC GAMING RULEZ, I’d be bankrupt before I could spell M-O-N-E-Y. Consoles and handhelds suddenly started becoming brighter prospects and the term “bang for your buck” has started making absolute sense. For those of you who think this is going to be another of those “PC versus Console” articles, sorry to disappoint you. Instead, I’ll be dealing with the question that has been torturing me the most: Are handheld and portable gaming devices ready to kick their console and PC counterparts out of orbit. And the answer? Let’s find out.
And by the way, if anyone wants to discuss the absolute beauty of a sneezing dog in action, do send me a mail… No shit, I’m serious.
Clover Studios developed great games like God Hand and Okami. Next thing we know Capcom was closing them down and Keiji Inafune (of Lost Planet fame) comments that just getting good reviews does not equal success. Critically acclaimed games like Viva Pinata and Kameo: Elements of Power from Rare Studios ended up losing in the sales race. Beyond Good and Evil by Ubisoft was cursed with the same fate inspite of being a great piece of interactive entertainment. I know it’s sad but thats exactly the state of the game industry today. Fewer developers take risks with innovation and games that are out of the ordinary. In fact, developers do love to make games that have never-before-seen gameplay and a completely new feel to how a game plays out, but it’s the cut-throat producers and publishing companies that dont want the developers to take risks. For the publishers, games should ALWAYS equal to loads of green or there is no freaking point in publishing it.
That is the reason why we see loads of crappy games in the market that sell well just because they are related to some blockbuster movie or in some cases a famous celebrity. For example 50 cent Bulletproof was a disaster of a game but was on the best seller list. Publishers know that if they push developers to make games based on the next Disney movie, they are sure to sell a hundred thousand copies without any effort at all. The consumers are suckers for anything that is mass market. The game may be crap and have horrible gameplay but if it has a lead character that resembles THE ROCK JOHNSON…SOLD OUT!
God of War fans worldwide were pretty pissed on April 11th. Especially people like me who literally stared at the countdown timer religiously for atleast 10 minutes everyday. There were rumours and speculations of the PSP game announcement or maybe the PS3 God of War 3 or maybe a full blown expansion pack for God of War 2 on the PS2 to actually give a satisfying treat to those who were put off by the cliffhanger at the end of God of War 2…
But things didn’t go as expected…no announcement was made that shook the heavens or anything close to that. All we got was a crappy video of Kratos’ fight with the Colossus of Rhodes along with some commentary from the developers. And of course, the secret HD mode (which they say slows down the game a bit when activated…WTF?!?). I was there when the countdowntimer hit zero and boy, I was pissed …extremely pissed. The Island of Rhodes was officially a piece of over hyped crap.
But I’d like to take back what i just said. It seems that all is not lost, we may just have our big announcement. To make things easier for readers I’ll just give a step by step procedure so that you can join in on the hype. Let’s just hope it doesn’t kick us in the balls like the last time.
1.) Go to www.islandofrhodes.org
2.) Skip past the crappy video commentary by hitting PROCEED. This will bring you to a page with information about the island of Rhodes.
3.) Now hidden away in this page are the letters that will form KRATOS…you will have to click the letters in order to form the name of everyone’s favourite bald killer. Given below is a picture to help you find out where the hidden letters are.
4.) This will bring you to another video, this one being about the Kratos on Pegasus scenario. Hit PROCEED to reach a page that will reveal a sliding puzzle that you have to solve before the timer runs out. Trust me, its TOUGH…DAMN TOUGH…and irritating too…atleast it was for me.