The Motion of the Ocean

The other day, I booted up Star Ocean:  The Last Hope for PS3.  I'd long heard mixed things about the game, but among the many things that stood out, one was evident, which I credit an old linkshellmate from FFXI mentioning:

The main character's name, Edge Maverick, sounds like a porn star name.

Naturally, I decided to share this with my good friend:


Nick: That's cause it just may be the worst SO in the series.
...Well.. it's a fight with 3 but still...

Ayn: Plus the main character's name sounds like a porn star.
Edge Maverick.

Nick: ROFL
It does!
Edge Maverick is ready to plow you good baby.

Ayn: He's ready to venture into the depths of space.
Where no man has ever gone before.
His rocket's ready for launch.

Nick: BLAAASSSSST OFF

Ayn: LOL.

Nick: That is a terrible name and now I can never forget this.

Ayn: My work here is done.

Edge Maverick: The name of a porn star, or a pro wrestler? You decide (and feel free to leave a comment!).

Something Worth Adding to Your Backlog

Many gamers look forward to Steam's summer sales to score good deals on games that they'll likely never get around to playing in the same year.  While I'm admittedly more of a console gamer than a PC gamer, and really only acquired steam because my purchase of a box copy of The Last Remnant required me to do so, I nevertheless respect the service.

However, even without The Last Remnant, Steam is worth getting simply for this:  Ys Origin.

While there's always the possibility that we may land Origin as a Playstation Vita port years down the line, I think it's worth supporting XSEED's venture onto Steam by purchasing this title.  It's already cheaper than when it came out a few months, and quite frankly, it's a steal at 12 bucks.

No, Steam's not paying me to do this, although my enjoyment of the Ys series has already been documented.

While this sale allegedly ends on July 23rd, stuff on Steam is always going on sale.  Still, I wouldn't delay purchasing it too long, as what I've played of it (mainly to test how well my laptop outputs to an HDTV -- wonderfully I might add) shows a promising game.

As icing on the cake?  The soundtrack is just as good as, if not better (hey, it's hard to beat "A Searing Struggle") than Oath in Felghana.

Effective Marketing

Let's face it:  Marketing is a huge problem for many video games, especially with game development costs increasing (not helped by the fact that many have expectations of their games selling like the next Mass Effect or Call of Duty game if they dump enough money into it).

However, many video game commercials these days seem quite forgettable.  It wasn't like this years ago, when some companies took themselves less seriously and just, well, had fun with their commercials.

A prime example?  Ones like these:

While it's hard to pin down exact numbers, at least as of 1997, the Saturn had sold around 7.6 million units worldwide, with about 5 million coming from Japan.  Huh, I wonder why it did so poorly in America.

I'm sure we can attribute a lot of things to differences in gaming cultures across the globe, but I think one lasting Segata Sanshiro left with us is this:  Having a mascot that will threaten to beat you up if you go outside to play instead of playing video games can be very effective.

If nothing else, it'd sure be funny to air right after a commercial for The Biggest Loser.

Resonance of Awesome.

Lately, as I combed through my gaming library, I've been thinking about games that just don't receive a lot of love.  While I could list off countless titles (instead, I'll opt to write about them at a later date), let's focus on one for now:  Resonance of Fate, one of Sega's creations for both the XBox and PS3.  Truthfully, I finished this game quite some time ago (and even made a gift of it to my good friend Nick), but oddly never got around to writing it.

Well, it's about time to remedy that, don't you think?

Wonderbook: Don't Backlog Your Childhood

Ayn has already touched briefly on the passing of E3, which gave a decidedly underwhelming performance this year. Gaming's biggest show seemed to elicit a resounding "that's it?" from the fans. While some of it was justified, one thing jumped out at me after Ayn linked me to the presentation for it. Sony's new peripheral, the Wonderbook.

Wonderbook is, in appearance, a physical book that will be used in conjunction with the Playstation Eye (remember the Playstation Eye?) and the Move controller. Utilizing the same Augmented Reality technology we've seen cropping up on other systems and even comic books these days, you'll be able to actually interact with stories as you flip each virtual page. Here's the official trailer;

And here's the tech demo from E3:

Go ahead and watch that until at least five minutes in to find out what Wonderbook has in store for us first.

Now, a brief sidebar. Here was my reaction when Ayn first told me about this new innovation.

David

Oh yeah.

This'll revolutionize the industry.

Aw man.

I just realized that if this were 20 years ago, I would think this was the coolest thing EVER.

Aw man.

I just realized that it can be 20 years ago and I'll still be a person.

Ayn

And sadly, unlike Bruce Wayne in Batman Beyond, you can never be 20 years younger and still be the goddamn Batman.

David

Aw maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan

My first reaction was to write this off as a cheap gimmick for kids and another bid by Sony to make the Move relevant in an era where the Wii dominates console sales and the Kinect lets you do everything the Move can without a controller. Then I realized, quickly as you can see from the IMs above, that my younger self would be in vehement disagreement with the me of today about what would and wouldn't be fun to play with.

"Sure, I don't need the magic book, I'll just keep playing my favorite game; Shoe."

- Young Me

And that got me thinking.

The future's so dim I have to wear one of those mining hats.

E3 is in its concluding days, and while I wish that I could say me, David, and Kyle were important enough to go, sadly that's not the case (alright, well maybe not for Kyle:  He's been there a few times, if I recall correctly).  Anyway, as I perused the images and stories of E3, I came across this:

What is this I don't even.

Naturally, I decided to show the image to my best friend, Nick, who had this to say:

Nick 2:32 pm
.................
Fuck this Gen.

If I'm grateful for anything this E3, it's that few things looked exciting enough to create more of a backlog for me in the future, which means you'll be seeing some more activity around here.

What are your thoughts?  Share your impressions, satisfactions, or dissatisfaction with us in the comments section.

Until next time (which I promise will be sooner), keep playing.

Just not with the contraption pictured above.

Dig That Radio

Hi there, my name is Kyle, but I'm pretty much known as "dropslash" around the internets. I was invited a while to take part in writing for The Backlog, but I'm just now getting around to it. Hey, I was busy! Anyway, I've been involved in the video game industry for about 12 years now and some of what I'll be writing here won't be exactly about playing video games as much as it will be about games and the industry in general. Such is true for the post you'll find below. Enjoy!

Ok, so this is a post I’ve been meaning to write for a while now. It’s going to be long and it’s going to be about a topic that is both generally universal and intensely personal. Music. Specifically, video game music, both original and inspired by, some of which will be included along the way. So feel free to fire up some of your favorite tunes, or jam on some of the ones here, grab a snack, and let's jump in.