The Negative Edge News Report 12.26.07

Posted by Tommy Coloma on 12.26.2007

Rain checks, guitar freaks, and demonic creatures. Plus, this week's releases, a legendary commentary, and more!

Today I decided to get the Source Premier Pack through Steam. I only wanted Portal, but I figured that I should start and finish all the Half-Life games just to see what all the fuss is about (it doesn't hurt that all of the games on Steam are 10-50% off right now). Luckily for you, my games are still downloading. So, while I'm waiting, let me get to the important stuff -


The Music Box

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I often listen to background music from my favorite games when I put this column together. After all this time, only now has it occurred to me that I shouldn't be keeping this stuff to myself. Consequently, I have a new section this week.

This week's selection comes from one of my favorite NES games of all time. I always had to block off a significant part of my day just to beat it. There are no save points or passwords, so it had to be done in one sitting. Some like to think of this as Metroid with a tank, but that would be a disservice to the game. It's much more than that. Anyway, this title had some of the best music on the NES, so don't be surprised if I use more music from it in future columns.


The Negative Edge Reference Contest

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I'm in the process of tallying things up. It looks like it's a race between aaronmccool and natedoggcata. I will announce the winner and give a rundown of all the correct answers next week.


The News As I See It

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How would you feel if you were a Wii rain check kid?

By now you've probably heard about Nintendo and Gamestop's rain check program whereby prospective Wii buyers were given the chance to purchase a rain check that is good for a Wii in January. I thought that it was an ok idea, but it really should have been implemented earlier in the year. I mean, who would give their child a rain check for Christmas? That's just wrong on so many levels, unless the blow is softened by another gift like a PS3 or a 360. Thankfully, I don't have to waste any more time trying to explain how psychologically damaging giving such a gift would be since Toys R Us already made a very good commercial which illustrates it perfectly -


Even though Christmas is over, Nintendo and Gamestop should continue to implement similar rain check programs throughout the year until supply problems are a thing of the past. They should also restrict the purchase of a system through the rebate program to one console per household nationwide. That way, bastard eBayers can only purchase from Gamestop once, allowing people who are not interested in making a profit out of the misfortunes of others to get the system for themselves. Gamestop gets people interested in purchasing a system from their stores and people can finally get their systems (albeit one month later) without having to check back every day. It would be a win-win situation for everyone (except eBayers).

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Thank Jack Frost - Atlus is sticking to what works

According to Bloomberg (via NeoGAF and Joystiq), Atlus will be bringing Persona 4 to the PS2 by July of 2008.

This is some of the best news I've read in a little while. I don't want to have to wait two or three years for the next game in the series, especially if it was because they had to use all of their resources to make a pretty title for the 360 or, more likely, the PS3. The presentation used in Digital Devil Saga and Nocturne as well as what was used in Persona 3 was excellent, so if Atlus were to recycle things from those titles, they'd be able to focus on gameplay while still making a good looking game. Don't get me wrong - I'd love to see Jack Frost on a more powerful system, but when all is said and done, I'd rather have great gameplay with good graphics than a pretty game with horrible gameplay.

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Before Guitar Hero and Rock Band, there was Guitar Freaks

According to an email sent to Luke over at Siliconera, Konami will be bringing the latest Guitar Freaks and Drum Mania games over to European markets either late this year or early next year. Unfortunately, it is still unknown as to whether or not this is an arcade release or if gamers will be able to pick these titles up for their favorite consoles.

I remember that there was a Guitar Freaks machine in the Socal Golfland back in the day. It was pretty close to the CVS2 machine that I played on so I heard a lot of the songs that people kept selecting. I honestly dug the J-Pop songs from the game so I wouldn't mind seeing Guitar Freaks make an appearance here in the states as long as Konami keeps the song selection intact. The market is there. Hell, they don't even have to make their own hardware; they can just repackage all the previous Guitar Freaks games that never made it to the US and add support for other hardware. Even if the higher-ups at Activision want to be complete dicks by not allowing other companies to use their guitars, people can still turn to the open standards championed by Rock Band's Harmonix. By the time Konami is able to localize their games, Harmonix will have sold enough units so that hardware isn't a problem.

The main issue is whether or not Konami would have the balls to release the song selections untouched. I don't want another Beatmania where they change the songs in order to appeal to an American audience. Guitar Hero and Rock Band already have the regular song market cornered so Guitar Freaks really needs something to set itself apart. If you want proof that song selection makes a difference, check out the differences between the US release of Beatmania and any of the Japanese releases. We were so robbed.



The Release List

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There were only a few decent imports and one VC game this week. I'm sure you already have enough to play anyway, right?


Yukinko Daisenpuu / Kiki Kai World (PS2 Import)

This was originally supposed to be the next sequel in the Pocky & Rocky series before it was cancelled. Since it was almost done, a few changes were made to avoid copyright infringement and the game was released. So, if you have fond memories of the Pocky & Rocky series, you might want to consider importing this. Or, you could just wait for the US release. The localized version will go under the name of Heavenly Guardian and will have an extremely ugly cover, but hey, what can you do?

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Final Fantasy IV (DS Import)

It's obvious that this'll make its way over here within the next year or two so you can hold off on importing unless you're a huge Final Fantasy fan. Or you can just settle for the GBA port. Now that they're done with this, maybe we'll finally get a DS remake for VI...

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Patapon (PSP Import)

I've been EYING this for a little while. Here's the description from Play-Asia - "In the game, players are tasked with leading the colorful Patapons, a brave and noble tribe, through a series of epic battles against opposing armies and gigantic monsters." "Brave and noble tribe" - I have a feeling that once this game gets released in the US, it'll receive the same flak that LocoRoco got. Bet on it!

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Nodame Cantabile: Dream Orchestra (Wii Import)

Ok. First things first - Nodame Cantabile is an Anime series that came out earlier this year that focused on classical music. It is one of the best series that came out this year and has one of the most satisfying endings ever. I'll take a closer look at it in another column. Don't wait for me though. If you have a lot of free time on your hands you should check it out!

Anyway, not only does this game let you conduct, but you can also play several different instruments using the Wii remote. I'm sure that this would make a great party game if you can get four other people to play along with you. It's like Rock Band, but with musical instruments that are all shaped like the Wii remote...

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Cybernator (Wii VC)

This is a side-scrolling platformer mech game. The game was censored when it first appeared in the States; some character portraits as well as a scene involving suicide were removed. According to what I've read, a lot of the artwork used in the game was done by Satoshi Urushihara, the artist who's work was the basis for several Anime series such as Plastic Little and Bubblegum Crisis. Apparently, he's a very famous hentai artist. I wonder if that's why some of the portraits were removed. I can't find any confirmation as to whether or not those changes were reverted when the game was put on the virtual console, but seriously, the game is fun even with the changes.


Random Stuff

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I Am Legend is still the greatest movie never made

I talked about the original script for I Am Legend in my last column, and since then, I've been asked about the differences between how the script played out and what happened in the movie that we eventually got. If you're the one that asked, I say that you should just read the script yourself (get it here) as it is a very good read. I know some of you have a lot to do these days, so here is my rundown (note: it's been around ten years since I read the script).

First of all, I'd like to say the movie was ok. It was entertaining, and considering how bad movies have been recently, being entertaining is quite an accomplishment. However, anyone who has read the original script will find it hard not to be disappointed. As far as following the script goes, up to the point where Neville goes on his suicide run, much of what happens in the script happens in the movie. A big change, however, is the fact that in the script, the vampire-like creatures, or Hemocytes, are rational. They can think and often retain memories from before they changed. A good chunk of the Hemocytes have formed a large group under the wing of one very powerful Hemocyte who's mission in life is to take Neville out. The story follows Neville as he guards his fortress - yes, FORTRESS - against this group of Hemocytes. Because of the divergence to the script, we miss out on several awesome fight sequences, a great dog rescue sequence, and what would have been the coolest and most un-expected escape sequence ever. For years, I Am Legend has been referred to as one of the greatest movies never made, and I still believe that the description fits perfectly. Maybe in ten years we'll get the movie that garnered such a title. In the mean time, Will Smith's I Am Legend is a decent first try.


To Be Continued...

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That's it for this week. I just found out that the Seven Lucky Gods have been kidnapped. If I can save them with my talismans and purification rod, I'll be back next week.