Tommy Gun

It's a message.

Yes, definitely easy. I beat (no pun intended) the game in less than a week (cleared all songs). I've gotten golds on many of the Gorilla songs, but not all, mostly because I'm not crazy about a lot of the music so I stopped playing. I wasn't great at Parappa either, there was always something weird about the timing to me (I beat P2 though). So don't judge just on that, try out some other music games. If you have a PS2, you might also want to check out Taiko--you can get it for $10 at Target (in the US, dunno about there). I like it better because I like drumming more. It's not too hard either, but the hard songs are much harder than Konga. Also, be SURE to get Jungle Beat now that you have the bongos!

Two weeks ago (I think) GameSpot's podcast, The Hotspot, discussed this. They mentioned how people say their reviews should be answering the question, "how does the game make you FEEL?" It was funny, and they talked about how their reviews SHOULD just be buyer's guides, basically, because that's why people read them. I totally agree with that. If you want a different type of review, that's what the indie sites are for, and forums, and whatever. As far as vocabulary is concerned, here's a fun game: next time you read a review on a big site (gamespot, ign, etc.), chug a beer every time they use the word "myriad." If you want to get really drunk, go back and read the old Dreamcast reviews on IGN--they use it at least once in 90% of the reviews.

I don't know if anyone has this game (you can get it for $13 including shipping from Play-Asia), but I wrote a big FAQ on it (with screenshots) if you're interested: Zombie vs. Ambulance FAQ

Yeah, it's very obvious it's a budget title. It could have been great if they'd put more into it. I don't think so.

Haha, the game isn't THAT good. It's fun for a couple hours, but then it's just work. Anyway, you can play imports on a PS2 really easily with a fliptop or slidecard. I use a slidecard, no modding at all, you just have to take the little cover off the tray (and you need swapmagic, etc.). I should also mention that a PAL version is coming, apparently: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000FI9SKU/202-6737095-7611031?v=glance&n=300703&v=glance I just added that link to the FAQ. Wrestlevania: You're pretty much right on. Upgrading is fun though!

...do you make music yourself? I want to start putting some videos (gameplay, etc.) up on CRG, but I need some theme/intro music first. If any of you have some original music that I can use I'll put you/your band in the credits, and any of your links on my site. I'm desperate! I've been searching everywhere and it's all crap! ...but I am pretty picky about the style of the music. Please post links to wherever I can hear your stuff.

Well I'm talking about famous, signed, bands. The chances of me contacting them, getting a reply, and getting permission to use their music for free, is pretty much zero. It's not a commercial project, but just in case I ever want to sell DVDs, or something, I want to be on the safe side.

Can't wait for this, looks awesome.

I don't know how many fans are here, but I’ve been playing so much Ouendan (finally beat it on Insane a few weeks ago) that I really wanted to hear the original songs. Well, I realized that most of them were up on YouTube in some form or another, so I compiled all the links into a guide! If you haven't played it, you can see what you're missing out on. http://crackedrabbitgaming.com/guides/ouendan-music-videos/

Well to clarify, the very last "twist" in Matador was that

I've seen magnatune before, but I just checked it out again. So far I really don't like anything (the stuff I do like isn't the right tempo, etc.). I'll keep trying though. You can use it for commercial stuff if you pay, and it's not terribly expensive so I'll pay if I find something good. Soundclick has a bunch of real bands (meaning I can't use it)! Even with "unsigned" in the search, real bands are still listed. Plus, tons of those songs are covers! Argh. This is so frustrating.

I've never tried playing it in a vehicle (don't go out much...). I've played it while standing out in the yard, and I actually did fine. Normally I rest the DS on my knee. I think I could handle it in a vehicle, as long as there weren't too many quick turns.

Sorry to hijack the Subway discussion , but I reorganized all the guides, added new pages, new info, etc. Check it out: http://crackedrabbitgaming.com/guides/ouendan/

Here's the fun time I had a few days ago: http://crackedrabbitgaming.com/2006/06/27/gstop-making-me-gcrazy/

Well, if you have DMC 1 & 3 (in theory), you probably have already read about #2, so if you still want to get it of course that's your deal. You probably would mention that to the employee. The customer clearly didn't know anything about the game, and I don't think he'd played any of them. The reason I liked Funcoland for that was because back then I didn't follow games as closely, and probably didn't read any reviews (no internet). So if I went in to buy a game it's likely it was based on the back of the box, or maybe some commercial I saw. I was happy for the help. I'm much wiser now.

Back when it was called Funcoland, I'd frequently get talked out of buying games, or overhear it happening to other customers--the difference there was that the employees genuinely knew what they were talking about, and had played the games. It really made me like the place more, because they weren't just trying to get you to buy everything, unlike other stores. Recently at EB someone in line next to me was trying to buy Devil May Cry 2, and the employee practically refused to sell it to him. Again, he actually knew what he was talking about and explained exactly why it sucked, and told him to get 1 or 3 instead. So it's certainly not all bad. This guy just didn't have a clue.

There have been some posts about where to get a thumb stylus (you can't buy them). Well I was at Circuit City and grabbed the new DS Lite stylus pack made by MadCatz (ew, but how can they screw up a stylus, right?). I don't have a Lite, but I really wanted the bigger styluses, they're great. It comes with all three colors. I've been using it to play Monkey Ball, and it's fine, my screen isn't scratched (I was a *little* worried). It also comes with a thumb stylus (they've sold this before with the standard styluses). This one doesn't have a lanyard, it's velcro and goes right around your thumb (I hate the cord anyway). It's a bit different though, it has a point on it, it's not flat like the real one. The only thing that might be a problem is that the point is the same plastic as the body, it doesn't have a smooth plastic tip like the pen styluses. In other words, it looks a bit rough, so it might scratch your screen. It's also just so pointy that I'm afraid I'll press too hard. I think I'm going to sand it down a little and smooth it out, and then it'll probably rock. I don't think I'm going to bother with the screen protectors, my screen is still fine and I go crazy with Ouendan. The link is here if you want to see a picture (you really can't see the thumb stylus though), it's $5 for the whole thing, not a bad deal: http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Mad-Catz-Stylus-Screen-Protector-Pack-MOV-024130-/sem/rpsm/oid/152024/catOid/-13861/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

I realized that Nintendo.com has all their styluses in stock in their store (including Lite and thumb styluses!), but the Lite ones are white only (honestly, I don't know if it matters, but it actually seemed harder to see when I was playing with the white MadCatz one). I went to GameStop and they had black ones there! I paid $7.99 for two, same as nintendo.com, but then I went to Circuit City and they had them for $5, argh. Oh well. Definitely better quality than MadCatz, although subtle.

I like Sam, but I think she just gets screwed--her field reports always seemed pretty lame, in terms of writing. I think they gave all the guys the good ones, and she got stuck with the not-that-funny ones.

I stopped using the MadCatz stylus. I don't know if it was actually scratching my screen (nothing major, so it's hard to tell), but if you look closely at the tip there's a *little* rough spot, and it's making me nervous. I don't want to use a screen protector, so I'm just going back to the standard stylus. Sucks, because I really like the bigger ones. I hope Nintendo releases them soon.

I like having physical copies of the games (with box/manual/artwork), so I probably won't buy anything on Steam. When I got HL2 I played it for a little bit, and it was fine. Then a couple months later my sister was over, and I wanted her to play the beginning. I open it up (nothing had changed on my computer, of course), and I had to sit through half an hour of updates and at least one restart. Thanks a lot, it worked fine before. I was more than a little annoyed. Aside from that, I haven't used Steam much. I have yet to install HL2 Ep1.

I put up a Tips FAQ! http://crackedrabbitgaming.com/guides/ouendan-faq/ There's also a translation project in the works with images (not from me, I don't speak Japanese). It'll be hosted on CRG though, I'll post about it when some of it's up.

That was a big concern for me, but I really looked closely at the tips to see if they were rough, and they seem to be fine. I wonder if the Lite ones are different than the originals (tip-wise). I'm definitely going to smooth out the thumb stylus before I use it.

Damn all these spoilers I can't read yet! For anyone who doesn't have it yet, you can get it for... $7.99 brand new at Circuit City! Chances are they won't have it, but take the ad over to Best Buy and price match it, that's what I did.