Aussie Ben

Seriously? That's great! I'll have to pick up the GB version today then. For the most part, the GB Raymans have been pretty good quality. Rayman Advance was a nice launch title, and I played Rayman 3 to death (which had characters from both Rayman 2 and 3, go figure). Rayman: Hoodlum's Revenge isn't very good though, they tried to do isometric tomfoolery and it was a bit wonky. Glad to see that they've gone back to 2D for Rabbids.

So a typical day is something like this then? I work for a game dev doing level design, at the moment, which I am loving to bits. Before that, I did QA for four years, which was not the best fun, but got me a lot of experience. Also, because the company was fairly small, I got to do other odd jobs, like some design, game dialogue writing (which I loved and would want to do more of), manual writing (again, would love more of this) and using Photoshop to screencap the SpongeBob island that you see at the start of the show and giving a high-res version of it to the artists for use in our DS game. I really keep thinking about moving out of Australia and applying for work overseas, such as the UK, Canada, and US - although the US frightens me because while the friends I met there were awesome, the general populace seems to have a very closed view of the world. ie - America exists and nothing else. Yikes. Documentries and movies like Borat seem to keep reinforcing this stereotype. Also, if I moved countries, I would have to change my nick, and USA Ben or People's Republic of China Ben doesn't seem to have the same ring to it.

I love it. I often get packages sent from my friends with wacko pinatas featuring mental headgear. I love the fact that one of the accessories you can decorate your pinata with is GRANNY'S 'TACHE. Which is a frightening grey wispy moustache. The "Student Hat" is hilarious too.

So, I heard this came out in the US a couple o' days ago. Anyone had a chance to have a look at it yet? (I see that you can download Jet Force Gemini gear for your pinatas on marketplace already.) I really think this is gonna be a lot of fun - I can't wait to send one of those evil pinatas to a friend! MAYHEM.

Because I've got a spare and I don't need it. First one to use it gets it (duh). Be interesting and write what you ordered, it'll be fun or something. I ordered Elite Beetroot Agents and an Xbox 360 S-Video cable. FUN Anyway, here's the coupon: HQ-SYS-ENJ You have to buy a minimum of US$50 worth of stuff to use it. As I said, this will be first come first served, 'cause there's no way I can control this. I think this is the fairest way to do it. After that, we can talk about... I dunno, import games? Or maybe just revert back to BG&E, Katamari and Psychonauts.

I command this topic to WISE FWOM ITS GWAVE Okay, so I actually got a copy of this game now, and I really like it. ...but for the life of me I don't know why. It's nice to build a garden, and the pinatas are cute. But, not unlike Animal Crossing, trying to explain to someone what the game's about makes it sound like the dullest thing ever. "So, what's the game about?" "Well, basically, you build a garden. And, um, depending on how you build the garden, different animals are attracted to it. So, if you put lots of water in it, you'll get frogs, and if you plant tall grass, you'll get deer." "But they're not animals, are they?" "Well, no, they're pinatas. But, um, like real animals..." "What?" "Well, if you have worms in the garden, they'll attract sparrows. And snakes will eat mice. And, um..." It's usually around this time that I lose my tepid audience and they either talk about Gears of War or go and play Guitar Hero II. But it is fun! Honest! I think?

All GB and DS systems of any type released up to this point in time are region free.

(commence topic derailment) Got distracted by your Alice in Wonderland review instead. Sounds like a pretty cool game! You should definitely check out Wendy: Every Witch Way too, if you can find a copy. It's a platform puzzle game where you flip gravity to progress through the levels, really cool. Like Alice, it's pretty easy for the most part, but it's a really cleverly designed game, I reckon.

I guess the Paul Stanley viral marketing didn't work out then? Good idea trying with the PS3 instead, that's much more popular.

While linking to Kotaku makes me cry inside, I thought this article was really great reading (surprise surprise, it wasn't written by the staff). It's got a description of the Japanese launch, along with a couple of videos of the maddening crowds. Unsurprisingly, most of the people lining up weren't Japanese at all, instead poor Chinese people who quickly took their purchase to a nearby truck. Hmm. What I find pretty disturbing is the screaming in the first video - at one point, you hear a woman's scream, and it sounded like sheer terror from being crushed to me. I've NEVER seen lines like this in real life, ever. The craziest line I've seen (which I also waited in) was for the Krispy Kreme that opened up in Collins Street, Melbourne, a month or two ago. Opened at 7am, and I was there in line at 7pm, still a few shops away from the store. But seriously, that's miniscule compared to what I'm seeing here. I tell you though, I don't miss it in the slightest. Um. After rereading that, I'd just like to point out that I wasn't waiting in line FROM 7am - I ARRIVED at 7pm and there was a long line. Right.

Let's hope the Japanese Wii launch will top it by being full of prostitues and rapists. I'm sorry, that was inappropriate.

I'm sorry, but I doñ't uñderstañd what you're talkiñg about? Oh, I like the Pause Menu music. And the blatant self-advertising continues:

I agree. I love that Mackenzie will say one thing and think another simultaneously - makes the conversations a lot more interesting. There is a bit of pixel hunting, but this seems to be typical of every adventure game ever. The only one that seemed to solve that was Discworld, where you pressed a button and it showed you all the hotspots on your current screen. Why can't more games do that?

The new Castlevanias are nothing like that clunky piece of shit. 1) You can actually walk up stairs now. 2) Your character does not shuffle around like a walking sofa. 3) The game takes place in a massive overworld, similar to the later Metroids, and new powerups and abilities are earned as you explore and defeat bosses.

One game commercial that I still remember has to Super Mario Advance for the GBA launch. In that one, a group of people were in the airport, and picking up vegetables and other people and then throwing them at each other, in a bizarre motion. All the while, a pleasant female said stuff like: "Pluck things from the ground, and hurl them at your enemies." "Pluck your enemies from the ground, and hurl them at your other enemies." Hilariously strange. Ah, here it is: http://youtube.com/watch?v=FV3DpQDiN8s

Totally. The only problem with this console is that there's TOO MANY DAMN AWESOME GAMES AND I'M SUFFOCATING IN THEM.

PW4 definitely has the DS-based stuff from Case five of Ace Attorney. I've seen screenshots of the fingerprint detection and 3D object rotation before, but I can't for the life of me remember where.

Yeah, it's really fucking hard. Wait until you get to that third case! You can try Gamefaqs, there's three on there when I last checked. Anyway, a hint for this section if you're still stuck (and I was too!):

I know what you mean - with the way that SSB looks, you expect the jump to be mapped to the A Button, like, you know, every platformer ever (except those rotten third-party titles that decide to screw with this winning formula for some mental reason). I just had to keep reminding myself that it's a fighting game, not a platform game, and that seems to work. Sort of. But yes, pressing X or swinging the Control Stick up to jump seems to come off as really clunky.

Anyone else had a chance to download this and check it out? It's pretty cool! Kinda tough, too... Pumpkins everywhere, as well as bats and candy (yay!). Gets a from me.

I just got a kick out of the multiple "Hit the Road" references, such as:

We can only hope.

I'm talking about Contact for Nintendo DS. Any game that says "Buy the game, I need your help!" is great. Anyway, unfortunately, like all DS games, it uses the wretched friend code system. Here's my code: 1632 9166 6241 Post your friend code in here, and I'll add any I see here. Maybe we'll meet up sometime!

Australia gets screwed again. No Bomberman for us!

No worries! My copy arrived yesterday too. I went to a Nintendo party to play Wii for a couple of hours (won some local competition) and didn't get home until about midnight. Then I notice Phoenix Wright 2 sitting there, and so I didn't get to bed until 3am. That Fransiska is a PSYCHO CRAZY LUNATIC WOMAN. Or a foolish fool who foolishly follows foolish advice, if you prefer. (Sorry for potential spoilers, I didn't even think of that - changed the post.)