Since I havent had the chance to update for a few days, I have decided that I would compile a youtube playlist of games coming out during 2010 that I am interested in. Credits go to the posters of the videos.

Unfortunately, my wallet shall also be lighter when considering that I had to add several more games to my want list such as Atelier Rorona which is due out here sometime this year.

Either way, I have reviews coming up soon, I have one that I realized I started typing up on Monday but left as a draft… so I shall finish that off very shortly.

I was just going through the list of games I hope to buy this year… and just from the PS3 alone (I haven’t even thought of the many Wii games and thank goodness I don’t have an XBox360 to eat up more money) I have realized that I shall end up being quite out of pocket by December 31st 2010.

Here is a list of games that have made it onto my purchase list so far… most seeming to be in the first half of the year through… unfortunately…

• Star Ocean 4 International
• Final Fantasy XIII Collectors Edition
• White Knight Chronicles
• Last Rebellion
• Resonance of Fate
• Nier
• ModNation Racers

As well, I have other potential releases coming out this year and early 2010 such as Trinity Universe, Tales of Vesperia and Ar Tonelico III which whilst not having any proper english release dates, I am sure will inevitably come soon…. hopefully….

Demon’s Souls is most probably one of the most brutal games that I have ever played. I am sure that if it were a person it would do to you what the cover of the game shows, bombard you with arrows until you are killed. Of course, since it cannot do that, it instead attempts to psychologically break the gamer whilst bombarding the virtual you with some of the most challenging gameplay that you could possibly imagine. Despite these comments do not assume that it is a bad game, since it is quite different. This is now take two of typing this since wordpress decided to not autosave this entry and firefox decided to crash on me so sorry for any small errors here and there. Here is my first impressions and initial review on the game Demon’s Souls. Read more

Whilst I personally do not really care about advertisments for anime, althrough I do occasionally browse the one or two on anime DVD’s if I want something to watch something while taking a few minutes to do something else, and despite what I just said, I suppose they did originally open me up to other series like Azumanga Daioh. Anyway, for those that do not know what Strike Witches are, it is a series about a lot of lolis and teenagers who defend the earths skies with weapons, and most noticibly the fact that all they wear on their lower body is either bloomers or some sort of underwear, therefore whilst this series was of no interest to me, I really did think that this advertisment was one of the more fun advertisments that I have seen and they completely disregard the fact that people would raise eyebrows at this series. I am not sure if they were released in individual episode sets however Strike Witches the Complete Edition will be released in America some time soon if it hasnt already. For Aussies, do not get your hopes up, this would most probably be knocked down and CENSORED by the Australian Government faster than you can imagine.

Demons Souls is HAAAAAAAARD! Never had to spend two hours playing a level and still standing in the same spot I was when I stated the level.

End Rant. Scroll down for some brand new game news and my impressions on three new anime series out this season!

Name
Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu or Idiots and Tests and Summoned Beings

Graphics
I wouldn’t call the graphics stunning by any counts, however I think the designs were decent enough for this sort of anime. The chibi style of summons was also very cute and makes a change from the normal human transforms you see in most anime nowadays.

Music
The opening theme is Perfect-area complete! by Natsuko Aso and the ending is Baka Go Home by milktub and BakaTest All Stars. Both of these themes are catchy and work well with both the theme of the anime and the animation used. The voice acting is at the moment in my opinion, average, so no complaints or complements from me on this.

Storyline
Instead of going for the generic school-life genre, they actually thought outside the box and mixed  Final Fantasy or something similar into the whole normal school-life genre. The story goes that at the beginning of the year, all students take an exam and are separated into classes A (The highest) to F (The lowest). The A class has the best facilities imaginable whilst class F (Which the main characters are put in), is no more than a tiny shack with broken furniture. They can rise ranks by studying hard and making their summon more powerful, in which they can duel other classes so they can swap spots with each other. Weird setting but I think it could work. Read more

For users of Megami Tensei Online Image (Also known as Megaten), check your emails to check out the most recent newsletter which contains a unique code to unlock a level 1 JOYFUL ALICE. In the Japanese version, she was only available for a short time during their first anniversary so if that is anything to go by, this is your only chance to get one. She is a Human-Fiend type demon and is fairly well statted. Despite this, I will most probably change back over to my Empusa later on once I get back into levelling. Another one to add to the collection alongside my Shishimai Jack Frost from Christmas!

Keep an eye out on this blog for a set of three anime reviews hopefully all coming within the next hour or so.

After a semi-hiatus from almost all online gaming, I decided last night to take the plunge and get an RNPC that I had been wanting for a while, Kurt. So yes, random news is I finally managed to unlock him after three hours and I dont actually have any more RNPC’s to get until the circus and Zeia RNPC’s which judging from my current levelling patterns, should be a loooooong time away. Anyway, have a good night and/or day everyone!

After the sexyness of Bayonetta and the fanservice of Cross Edge, I think it is time to focus on something for the younger readers. To be perfectly honest, the only reason I bought Koi Cupid was to collect rare books, since Broccoli Books went out of business January of last year, their books have been increasingly hard to find, and during my trip, I managed to locate not only this book, but Disgaea 2 Volume 2 and Coyote. Either way, if you are interested in a book that is aimed more at kids and was done by the person who provided to other kids manga like Tokyo Mew Mew, then please read on! Read more

Cross Edge is what happens when five companies high in Japanese Tactical Gaming come together and form a game, not as rivals, but as allies in order to show what they can achieve as one unit. These five companies are Capcom, Nippon Ichi, Namco Bandai, GUST and Idea Factory. Was their teamwork effective or was it a bombshell? Read on to find out what I thought Read more

So yes, to the lucky ducks who have already got Open Beta access or those who are interested in it, Star Trek Online, produced by Cryptic studios is holding their open beta session starting tomorrow (The 12th January). Fileplanet subscribers can already get non-preorder access keys with hopefully more sites announcing it today and tomorrow. Might see you ingame if I manage to get an open beta key myself (Don’t really intend on ordering any online game until I try it out).

PS: Anyone from Cryptic Studios kind enough to send me a key, through the contact email on the site lol! No harm in trying.

If I do get in, I will try and get a review done during the course of the beta whilst I still have time.

EDIT: Just managed to get myself a key, keep an eye out on the official forums for up to date messages on where to get keys, they are much quicker there than any official release I tell you lol! (Don’t neglect the power of the community in getting information!)

Now before I start off my impressions of the game, I would like to say that I played the Playstation 3 version of the game and therefore I do not take into account or remotely care about the superiority of one system or the other, there are other reviews you can read if you want to be joyful or unhappy over the fact that X is better than Y or vice versa. What I am reviewing is what I played, nothing more, nothing less. The review shall be after the jump! Read more

Not expecting to have no internet connection, I didnt mention that I was away travelling to Victoria for a week. However, I was able to get my hands on a delicious new batch of manga which I hope to review in the near future. I was going to get some anime as well however it ended up a bit out of my price range. I shall give a call out to the Borders Stores that I purchased a few of the books from as well as a recommendation from Yatsushiro, a Pop Culture store called Minotaur which I went insane in…. I am sure there are other stores in Victoria however I had very limited time to go shopping, so focused my attention to a set area of Melbourne and random occurances.

I shall list the books by Publisher:

Broccoli Books

Disgaea 2 Cursed Memories – Volume 2 by Hekaton
Koi Cupid – Volume 1 by Mia Ikumi
Coyote: Ragtime Show – Volume 1 by Haruo Sotozaki and Tartan Check

Tokyopop

.hack//Alcor – Volume 1 by Amou Kanami / Izumibara Rena

Del Ray

Haridama: Magic Cram School by Atsushi Suzumi

Yen Press

~ The Strongest Bride on Earth ~ Sumomomo, Momomo – Volume 1 by Shinobu Ohtaka
The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya Novel by Nagaru Tanigawa

Viz Media

Shakugan no Shana – Volume 2 by Yashichiro Takahashi, Ayato Sasakura and Noizi Ito
Shakugan no Shana – Novel by Yashichiro Takahashi and Noizi Ito

The Seven Seas

Inukami! – Volume 1 by Mari Matsuzawa and Mamizu Arisawa
Pita Ten – Novel 2 by Yukari Ochiai

Order is chosen by the BIIIIG pile of books beside me.

Credits for this image I assume go to Compile Heart and the five companies that contributed to Cross Edge on the (PS3) and Cross Edge Dash (XBox360). If this is a fan art, I am sorry but it is only something I just found on the internet and assume is by the company.

Well I know it is late however Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope everyone enjoyed themselves got a little bit fatter on nice food and got some good pressies. Me? I did have a fairly good Christmas however on noon Christmas Eve, my internet decided to completely cut off until about an hour ago. Therefore, I had no internet access and got so annoyed not having it that I called the ISP’s support line, to be told that there didnt seem to be any problems with either side…. nah well, fixed now!

Well, I did manage to get some otaku stuff this year from my family, so look foward to upcoming reviews on the following:

Anime

• Rozen Maiden Collection 01 (Contains the complete first season) released by Madman and Geneon.

Manga

• When They Cry – Cotton Drifting Arc Volumes 1 & 2 released from Yen Press
• Death Note Volume 13 “How to Read” from Shonen Jump and Viz Media
• World Embryo Volume 5 from Madman Entertainment
• Shakugan no Shana from Viz Media

Games

• Valkyria Chronicles (PS3)

Everything else is more western stuff so I wont be including it in that list, however I may sneak a review of a few other games I got into this blog.

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas!

A GIGANTIC volume coming in at a whopping 98 pages long with no extras and being a great conclusion to the series…. oh wait, forget I just said that. Volume 8 is a very small manga volume in comparison to the other volumes, looking quite out of place on my bookshelf and resolving the storyline in the quickest manner possible…. without an ending. Now I am aware of all the problems surrounding this however I am here to review the manga as if there were no complications, so read on to see if this was worth me paying the same amount for the volume as every other one. Read more