Okami is one of the single most beautiful games I've ever played in my life. It's not only incredibly fun and well-crafted, but it's something akin to an a 30+ hour audiovisual orgasm as well. Seriously, just running around doing nothing and just watching the game and listening to the music are treats in and of themselves. Yeah, it may be a bit too easy, but what do I care when I'm having so much fun anyway?

Thank you, Clover, for this game in this time of sequelitis and obsessiveness with power, power, power. Next-gen this, polygon-pushing that... the PS2 is supposed to be the weakest of the current-gen systems, yet it's pushing one of the most visually impressive, original games I've ever seen with hardly a hitch or framerate drop.

You may be gone (and far too soon), but the memories of my experiences with Okami (I'm not even done yet!) won't soon leave me. I love, love, love Okami. <3

I just got back from Comic-Con 2006, where various game companies had little floors set up in the Exhibit Hall, kind of like a mini-E3. I didn't go there only for the games, of course, because there wasn't much different from anything that was at E3, but I did spend some time at the various game companies' floors.

This isn't going to be a long blog entry because my actual preview is forthcoming, but I wanted to let everyone know that I spent quite a bit of time at Square Enix's floor in particular, because they had a new demo of the refurbished, much-improved US/European version of their upcoming "shooter RPG," Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII.

Those of you who read my E3 preview will know that the game I played there was quite disappointing, and decidedly sloppy where the gameplay was concerned. Then, shortly after E3, Square announced that in response to a lot of gameplay complaints following the game's Japanese release, they were going to retool the game for its US and European debuts.

All I'm going to say here is... retool it they did. Now, Dirge hasn't suddenly become one of the BEST GAMES EV4R!!!!, but what I played at Comic-Con feels almost like an entirely new game. It's SO MUCH better, and those of you anticipating the game will be happy to know that you're getting a much better product than the Japanese did (at least so far; I'm sure the improved game will be re-released there as Dirge of Cerberus International or something).

My preview of how exactly the game has been improved is forthcoming, but for now, I just wanted to let you guys know that the game really has gotten quite a bit better since the decidedly negative preview I gave it from the E3 show floor.

Stay tuned for more on the new and improved Dirge!

So I've spent the past weekend in Austin, Texas for the In the Groove Nationals (Doubles and Freestyle division). I didn't go to compete, just to hang out with friends who were... but man. It didn't take a very long time after arriving here for all of us to decide that we never. Ever. Want to come here again.

All of us being SoCal-ers, we're not used to this blistering heat, and besides that, it's just so... bleak here (apologies to any Texans that are reading this).

But now I'm sitting in the airport waiting for my flight. I got here really early and still have a couple hours to go, so I thought I'd jack in and see how I could pass the time.

I've got a somewhat cool treat for you all when I get back -- I managed to interview Kyle Ward of Roxor Games (musician, audio engineer) about the In the Groove series' past, present, and future. It's nothing mindblowing - all I had was a single piece of notebook paper and a Sharpie - but it's better than nothing and fans of RoXoR's dancing game series would do well not to miss it, as it contains insights into RoXoR's progress with and goals for their upcoming sequel, In the Groove 3, and more.

So yeah. Even when I'm off traveling the country with friends, I'm finding ways to get new content for you guys. I just hope there are enough GAF users that also happen to be In the Groove fans to make it worthwhile beyond my own gaining experience. ;)

Well, that's all for now. See you all when I get back to SoCal, which can't be soon enough. ^_~

This is Ash, jacking out!

(BTW, Mega Man Battle Network 6 comes out tomorrow. Let me hear a WAHOO!)

So I've been hearing about this apparent gem of a game called Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved for a good while now and how it's this friggin' amazingly addicting, classic twitch shooter. I never thought much of it, though... until tonight, when I realized that, since playing the hell out of Ridge Racer 6 and mastering World Xplorer completely, I had barely touched my Xbox 360.

So, as I was browsing the Marketplace, seeing what was new since the last time I had used my 360, it occurred to me download and try the demo of Geometry Wars.

Holy crap.

Seriously, it's kind of sad, but this is probably the most immediately playable, purely fun game out on the Xbox 360 right now... and it costs $5, when all those "next-gen" titles you could buy in stores cost $60. If that's not bang for your buck, I don't know what is.

Either way, the quality of the still-meager Xbox 360 library notwithstanding, Geometry Wars is a testament to the fact that games hardly have to be "next-gen," 3D, or even anything of the sort to be fun. Anyone who tells you otherwise... well, if you're an avid reader of GAF, then you're probably already an educated enough gamer to know not to listen to them, eh?

Well then, now that I've said my piece, I'm off to go write a news story on, ironically, an upcoming 2D game that was just announced, and that I'm personally excited for. And if any of you readers know me at all, it'll be immediately apparent what game I'm talking about when you check the front page in a few minutes. ^_^

Ash out!

Who ever would have thought that my first GAF blog would be coming to you from class, where I'm currently enjoying some downtime after finishing my assignment early.

It's kind of a weird class; our professor is only actually with us half the time. The rest of the time she's at one of our two sister colleges, videoconferencing the lecture to us. Of course, half the time the videoconferencing equipment doesn't work, which leads to a lot of awkward class moments and a lot of missed directions. Ah well... it figures that the class that I'm supposed to enjoy for my major ends up being one of the toughest ones because of the professor. x_X

So my girlfriend and I are both foaming at the mouth for March 29th, which is the day Kingdom Hearts II finally floats into stores all over the US. It's been my number one anticipated game for two years now, so suffice it to say, I'm just a little excited now that we're only one month and one day from its release. I've been staying wary of all the KH II newssites that I used to visit, too, because now that the game has been out in Japan for awhile, I have to be really careful of spoilers. (I can't even begin to describe how deep my sadness would be if any parts of the story had been spoiled for me.)

Ah, but now I have to cut this short - our professor's back on the monitor with directions on what she wants us to do now (and I have a feeling that "blogging on GAF" doesn't qualify). So, readers, until my next news story - seeya later!