The Negative Edge News Report 03.26.08

Posted by Tommy Coloma on 03.26.2008

The classic that is Silhouette Mirage, Gamestop's possible stranglehold on niche games, giving cheaters what they deserve, this week's releases, and More!

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right image taken from racketboy
One thing about Amazon.com that is both cool and scary at the same time is the fact that the site continually pools together things that you've bought and viewed in the past, does some weird calculations, and spits out items that people with similar interests have also bought and viewed. A lot of their suggestions completely clash with what I'm interested in, but every once in a while I'll find a gem that I would not have otherwise heard about. A few weeks ago, one of the games that Amazon thought that I would enjoy was a PS1 game called Silhouette Mirage. Being the inquisitive person that I am, I looked the game up on YouTube and checked out the first gameplay video I could find -


Of course, after seeing that, I knew that I had to get it. So, despite the fact that I now have a large stack of more contemporary games that still need to be opened, the only game that I played this week was Silhouette Mirage. The game can be described as a platformer that is a cross between Gunstar Heroes and Ikaruga. Your character has two attributes, Silhouette (blue) and Mirage (red). Which attribute you're using is determined by whether you're facing left or right. At the beginning, facing right switches you over to Mirage while facing left switches you to Silhouette. You can reverse sides if you want, but it'll cost you. In order to kill your enemies, you must attack them while using an attribute that is the opposite of theirs (i.e. attacking Silhouette monsters while in Mirage mode and vice versa). The game gives you several ways to get to the other side of your enemies so that you can attack them using the appropriate attribute. Thankfully, there is a very good tutorial at the beginning. While the game is pretty hard (or maybe I'm just losing my platforming skills), it is still pretty fun to play. Gameplay isn't the only thing that Silhouette Mirage has going for it; it also has a very strange story along with some of the weirdest characters I've seen in a video game. For example, one of your enemies is some strange flying fish-thing that constantly asks you to buy her flowers. I've finally found a game that makes Darius Gaiden seem normal. If you love platformers and you missed Silhouette Mirage when it first came out, you should give it a try. Even though it's a Treasure game, it isn't that hard to get a new copy cheap if you know where to look.

Side note: Looking at the instruction manual made me a little sad. Remember when they were actual booklets and not simply strips of paper or completely non-existent?

Let's get to the good stuff -


The Music Box

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Today's song comes from one of the earlier games in a series that has seen many sequels over the years. The game in question never made it to the US when it originally came out in the early 90s. Fortunately, it saw a DS remake that was eventually localized, so those wanting to beat every game in the series need only worry about the life that they are giving up to reach that goal. The song itself should be recognizable to anyone that plays these types of games. Can you figure out where this song comes from within the first twenty seconds?

I chose this mostly because I was surprised about how good it sounds when played on 8-bit hardware. The first time I heard it was during the intro for one of the newest games in the series. Since I'm relatively new to the genre, I didn't know that the song was used in the earliest titles. It makes me wonder how many other NES/Famicon games contain soundtracks that would sound great with a full orchestra behind them.


The News As I See It

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Gamestop and its possible stranglehold on niche games
Back in September, insert credit reported that a US release of Chaos Wars was hinted at during a Gamestop expo. No further details were given other than the fact that O3 would be bringing the game over. Since then, those who've been wanting to get their hands on this SRPG, which features characters from Shadow Hearts, Growlanser, Blazing Souls, Gakuen Toshi Vara Noir, Spectral Force, Spectral Souls, Hametsu no Mars, Gungrave ,and Samurai Police/Shinsengumi Gunrouden, have been waiting for news on when they would be able to pick it up. Thankfully, those whose very lives hinge on any news they can get about this game can now rest at ease as O3 Entertainment has made it known that the game will be released on the 24th of April. Unfortunately, it would appear that the game will be a Gamestop exclusive.

I hate this. I hate it with a passion! Console exclusivity is bad enough. Now we have to deal with it when buying games? Fortunately, as far as I know, this has only happened with one other game (Chibi Robo) that I know of, so it hasn't become a trend just yet. Sure - I know that this was only going to be a niche title. I mean, if an SRPG doesn't have Final Fantasy or Disgaea in its title, it's doubtful that a lot of gamers will care; even though this has Shadow Hearts and Growlancer characters in it, only the hardest of the hardcore will know about it. So, stocking it at Walmart, Target, or Best Buy might be difficult and cost prohibitive. Still, if all of the niche titles end up in one place, how are the people that don't go to non-specialized shops supposed to be able to sample different things? Answer - they won't, and the end result will be fewer niche titles to balance out the heavy dose of sameness that we've come to expect from game developers.

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The world ended for a few gamers today
Major Nelson just announced that gamers who have raised their Gamerscores through "nefarious" means have been given a lesson they won't soon forget. It would appear that Microsoft is taking out those who have used tampered gamesaves to boost their scores. The price for a few months of glory includes literally being labeled as a cheater and having one's Gamerscore reset to zero. There will be no way to appeal once one's account has been shitlisted, so once a person has been caught, forever will he or she be marked. While the poor unfortunate soul can continue to earn Gamerscore points after the purge, he or she cannot regain the same achievements that were previously "earned". Consequently, a quick King Kong and Avatar rental will get the cheater nowhere fast.

There isn't much to add other than - "Neener neener neeeeener!"


The Release List

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Another decent week in release land. Notables include Red Alert 3 beta + Command and Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath (PC), Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core (PSP), Harvest Moon DS Cute (DS), and Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword (DS). Here are some other ones that you might want to check out -


Raiden Fighters Aces (360 import)
I honestly can't figure out how this could have been green-lit for release on the 360. Sure, having three top-down shooters is awesome, but in this day and age, can they really get away with a compilation that includes only three shooters for anything other than a budget price? Is this series super-hot in Japan or something? Wait until this drops to at least $30. $60+ is way too much considering the excellent shooters you can still get on the PS2 for a fraction of that.

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Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus (PS2 Import)
God! How many of these are we going to see a year? This is supposed to contain a big fix for a major bug in the last game. Seeing as how nobody made a fuss about the bug last time, it would seem that interest in this series is waning. I can understand that. The same thing happened to Street Fighter back in the day when Capcom released five versions of SFII. If we wait a few years, maybe history will repeat itself and Arc System Works will release a 3D Guilty Gear that contains all of the principle characters and two or three new ones.

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Octomania (Wii)
There are a few things this game has going for it. First, it's got a budget price of $20. Second, it's got online play. Third, Moo Niitani, the creator of Puyo Puyo, was its supervisor. (credit: insert credit) I can't say that I dig the music, but the game itself looks promising.

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Opoona (Wii)
I've seen this described as a "My First RPG" type of a game. If true, then RPG players who wish to bring their loved ones into the sinister world of RPGs need not look any further. Opoona uses the "Active Bon Bon Battle System" which involves only moving the Nunchuck around in order to attack enemies. In fact, the whole game is controlled with only the Nunchuck. Maybe someone should introduce this game to Itegaki before the next Dead or Alive Xtreme game comes out.

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Universe at War: Earth Assault (360)
After purchasing Westwood Studios, EA saw fit to surround its developers with a few Tesla coils in order to keep them in line. Fortunately for us, those shock treatments did not result in Westwooders developing learned helplessness. Instead, they were able to escape and form Petroglyph Games. Obviously, whenever Petroglyph releases a new RTS, it should be big news. This is no exception. The last time I checked, PC and 360 players are supposed to be able to play against each other. I also heard that 360 players have a legitimate chance of actually beating PC players. I call bullshit on that, but I will be keeping an eye out on the game's reception to see whether the rumors are true.

If you're interested in the game, you might want to check out the interview Chris Evans had with Frank Klepacki, the music composer for Universe at War and Westwood's Command & Conquer games. You can also download the Universe at War soundtrack for free here (it goes great with first-person shooters).

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Mazes of Fate (DS)
It seems like we get a new dungeon crawler every week these days. If these came out 20 years ago I'd be in heaven. Unfortunately, it's 2008. Still, this is a remake of a 2-year-old GBA game that was well received among those who like dungeon crawlers, so if you missed the original and want to see what the fuss was about, here's your chance.


That will be 255 Rupees Please!

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Virtua Fighter 5 for Xbox 360 - $33.07 (credit: Cheap Ass Gamer)

Are you a fighting game fan on a budget? Good news - Amazon has finally seen fit to drop the price of the latest Virtua Fighter title. I was going to buy this the other day for the regular price of $60, but the line at the store was way too long and Smash Bros. was calling me through the depths of Subspace. Now that I think about it, why do I need to get this when I have enough fighters to keep me busy? I see what you're doing Amazon. Slick, very slick!

In all seriousness, this is supposed to be one of the deepest fighters out there, so if Smash Bros. doesn't give you the satisfaction you crave (or if you're one of those unfortunate souls that can't get your hands on a Wii), this is a great deal.


Putting the background feature to good use

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Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core
I was still in college when Final Fantasy VII came out, so I didn't get swept up in all the hoopla that surrounded the RPG. In fact, the first JRPG that I ever played through was Final Fantasy X. Do I lose nerd-cred for not having played more than an hour of what many consider to be the best game in existence? Would it help if I said that I tried to buy it but didn't feel like getting reamed up the ass on eBay?

By the way, this week's background image comes from the FFVII:CC Ultimania book. For some reason this picture makes me want to watch Kenshin again...


To Be Continued...

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That's all I have for this week. I was just asked whether I want to ford the river or take a ferry. If I can make up my mind before my party starves, I'll be back next week.