September 2008 Archives

Platform: Xbox 360
Reviewed on Xbox 360

Yuri Lowell, barely a man at 21, has already been kicked out of the Imperial Knights and spent the rest of his life helping the folk of the poor, lower quarter of the Imperial capital. His life, and that of many others, is powered by blastia, magical artifacts powered by the primeval mystical power of Aer. Unfortunately, a wicked mage who promised to fix the blastia that pumped all the water for the lower quarter stole that same blastia, leaving the impoverished lower quarter in dire trouble.

When Yuri heads off to reclaim the lower quarter's blastia from the thieving mage, he joins with a girl named Estellise, who happens to be looking for an old friend of Yuri's who's travelling in the same direction as the thief. They set off together and become entangled in a greater conspiracy. The plot involves the theft and destruction of blastia around the land and the very nature of the magical essence that powers the world, laying the foundations for a world that runs on mana.

Platforms: Xbox 360, (PlayStation 3, Wii and PlayStation 2 versions will be released shortly)
Reviewed on Xbox360

Music game fans that happen to have an Xbox 360 are the lucky recipients of this holiday season's first salvo in the ongoing music game war. With the release of Guitar Hero World Tour still more than a month off, Microsoft has scored a coup with Rock Band 2, the follow-up to last year's ambitious guitar/bass/drum/singing simulator. (Versions for the PS2, PS3, and Wii are scheduled for later this year.) This is really more of a patch than it is a brand new game, but it does nearly everything right, and the set list (all master tracks) makes the price of entry more than worth it.

Platform: PC and Wii
Reviewed on PC

Windows System Requirements: 1.5 GHz Processor, 256 MB RAM, 32 MB 3D video card, DirectX 9, internet connection, Windows XP or Vista

Strong Bad just wants to rudely answer e-mails, play totally awesome video games and watch television. But the King of Town has introduced a new tax that requires an offering of food for every e-mail sent or received. Applied retroactively. Including a tax on the e-mail notifying citizens of the tax. As a serious serial e-mailer who violated the King of Town's tax, Strong Bad is now under arrest and confined to his home. First, Strong Bad needs to get out into the wider world; then, he can form his own nation where e-mail can be free!

There you have it. Under the current conditions, EA will not acquire Take-Two. In other words, the price that Take-Two's management and shareholders want for the company is too high for EA to feel it prudent at this time.

Platforms: Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3
Reviewed on PlayStation 3

It's not a galaxy far, far away, but it's nice to be able to put a firm date on Star Wars' "a long time ago." Apparently, a long time ago is the sixteenth century, because when fighters from a galaxy far, far away join fighters from all over the world, battling for the right to control two powerful swords – the holy Soul Calibur and the cursed Soul Edge – that's when Namco Bandai says the fighters clash. Only by battling a series of other powerful warriors in an unbelievably Byzantine series of plot twists, and ascending for a battle at the top of a tower can any warrior claim the blades.

Platforms: Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3
Reviewed on Xbox 360

It's not a galaxy far, far away, but it's nice to be able to put a firm date on Star Wars' "a long time ago." Apparently, a long time ago is the sixteenth century, because when fighters from a galaxy far, far away join fighters from all over the world, battling for the right to control two powerful swords – the holy Soul Calibur and the cursed Soul Edge – that's when Namco Bandai says the fighters clash. Only by battling a series of other powerful warriors in an unbelievably Byzantine series of plot twists, and ascending for a battle at the top of a tower can any warrior claim the blades.

Platform: Xbox 360
Reviewed on Xbox 360

Humanity has sent expeditions into deep space, but no ship has ever returned. Even rescue expeditions have disappeared without a trace. That fact led to a moratorium on deep space exploration, but one scientist refuses to abide by the ban. Dr. Gage created the RIP Rocket, a small, one-man vessel capable of jumping through hyperspace, but with adaptable weapon systems. As it turns out, that's a good thing, because the galaxy is densely populated – with aliens that want to turn humanity into a sparse vapor spread through the vacuum of space.

Platform: Xbox 360
Reviewed on Xbox 360

You began as a young adventurer, striving to free Bartonia and the surrounding kingdoms of Etheria from the tyranny of Lord Bane. Now that you've spent time forging godlike items, reached level 50, rule every city in Etheria, trained your mounts to obscene levels, and even put down a god, what is there to do? With the emergence of Lord Antharg – the Plague Lord – there's a whole new threat for Etheria. And that means a new threat only your match-three puzzle skills can defeat.

Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PC and PlayStation 2
Reviewed on Xbox 360

Edward Carnby, a paranormal researcher, survived his investigations during the early 20th century (and a dreadful film outing in 2005), to awaken an amnesiac in the hands of evildoers who would use him to unlock an horrific evil that dwells beneath New York City's Central Park. Carnby must race against the evil that lurks beneath the city to save humanity from a ghastly fate.

Video Games Live is a project that started in 2002 with the goal of showing the world the cultural significance of video games and acknowledging the art and majesty of the music that goes into making those games memorable experiences. Video Games Live had its first performance on July 6, 2005, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. Since then, the Video Games Live performance series has toured the world, and has now released a collection of some of the best-known tunes from video and computer gaming as a CD entitled Video Games Live: Volume One.

For most people, hunt-and-peck typing is the most they aspire to. If you slowly search for keys to press with your two index fingers, you probably don't care what kind of keyboard is sitting in front of your web browser. But gamers, like the top touch typists, care a lot about their keyboard. It's important the action is good, that the keys are responsive and that the keyboard doesn't seize up if you strike too many keys at once. For those people, the Metadot Corporation is introducing a redesigned version of the Das Keyboard Professional under its Das Keyboard brand.