Sept 18 - Sept 22

Section: 

Okami tanked in Japan. That probably means I'm _more_ likely to enjoy it. A game we've been keeping our eye on for two E3s now, Okami has always seemed like an elegant, artistic, and innovative winner to me. A game of brushstrokes, and artwork, and divinity, it is like a nice spoonful of sorbet; not something I necessarily want every night of the week, but cleanes the palette nicely in the wake of Dead Rising, Saint's Row, and Company of Heroes. Okami is the kind of game I play to pretend like my tastes are eclectic before the urge to wield bullet spitting machine guns overtakes me again.

I dub Okami, Game of the Week.

IMAGE(http://www.gametab.com/images/ss/ps2/4054/box.jpg)

On DVD this week we have the new Battlestar Galactica Season 2.5 set available for your fanatical devouring. While I do love this series, and look forward to October 6th and the new season, I am not pleased with this whole .5 nonsense when releasing television seasons. I demand it ceases immediately. There will be consequence for non-compliance. More DVDs here.

PC:
Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales (09/18)
GTR 2 (09/18)
King's Quest Collection (09/18)
Police Quest Collection (09/18)
Space Quest Collection (09/18)
Leisure Suit Larry Collection (09/18)
World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions (09/19)
Ford Bold Moves Street Racing (09/19)
Open Season (09/19)
EverQuest: The Serpent's Spine (09/19)
Hoyle Bridge Club (09/20)

XBOX 360:
Open Season (09/19)
World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions (09/19)
Cabela's Alaskan Adventure (09/19)
Samurai Warriors 2 (09/19)
Godfather, The (09/19)
TotemBall (09/19)

XBOX:
Ford Bold Moves Street Racing (09/19)
Open Season (09/19)

GAMECUBE:
Open Season (09/19)

PS2:
Okami (09/19)
King of Fighters 2006 (09/19)
Ford Bold Moves Street Racing (09/19)
Open Season (09/19)
World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions (09/19)
Cabela's Alaskan Adventure (09/19)
Samurai Warriors 2 (09/19)
Zatch Bell! Mamodo Fury (09/19)

GBA:
Bratz: Forever Diamondz (09/18)
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team (09/18)
Capcom Classics Mini Mix (09/19)
Open Season (09/19)
Strawberry Shortcake Sweet Dreams (09/19)
Dogz Fashion (09/19)
Princess Natasha: Student Secret Agent (09/19)

DS:
Bratz: Forever Diamondz (09/18)
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team (09/18)
Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime (09/19)
Open Season (09/19)
Danny Phantom: Urban Jungle (09/19)

PSP:
Godfather, The (09/19)
Open Season (09/19)
World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions (09/19)

Comments

Having played through all 50-plus hours of Okami, I can say that it is very deserving of the "Game of the Week" honor. It plays a lot like a Zelda game, only it actually out-Zeldas recent entries in that series in many ways. This is a big, big game and a great send-off for the PS2. A definite must-buy in my opinion.

What ho? King's, Police, and Space Quest? Yes please.

Where's the Quest for Glory and Gabriel Knight Collections, Sierra?

What does the whole .5 in BSG even mean? after Sunday's Eagles game I think I may need some DVD's to watch on Sunday afternoons.. that and a great deal of beer.. man do I have a headache this morning.

What does the whole .5 in BSG even mean?

It means they split the season into 2 parts so they can charge you twice for watching the season instead of just once.

I realize the season itself was split with an interval of a few months between 2.0 and 2.5., if we're going to take to calling it that, but if they must split, then I'd like to see the prices on the half-seasons drop.

TheGameguru wrote:

What does the whole .5 in BSG even mean?

Second half of the season? I don't mind the season being released in two chunks, but almost charging the price of a FULL season for each 1/2 is kind of galling.

Lost - The Complete Second Season (24 Episodes) $36.87 (prices from Amazon)

Smallville - The Complete Fifth Season (22 Episodes) $37.87

Battlestar Galactica - Season 2.5 (Episodes 11-20) $32.49

Battlestar Galactica - Season 2.0 (Episodes 1-10) $35.35

RichyRambo wrote:

Second half of the season? I don't mind the season being released in two chunks, but almost charging the price of a FULL season for each 1/2 is kind of galling.

That really burns me too. When I bought Season "2" I had no clue there was a 2.5 until my boyfriend pointed out that we were almost done the DVDs and we weren't even halfway through the season! He was pissed because I'd gotten him completely hooked and he had to wait even longer now to see the finish of season 2, and I was pissed 'cause I knew I wasn't going to be able to not buy season 2.5.

Well, my temptation to pick up the BSG dvd's to watch the show just went out the window. I don't know what I'm missing, and I'll just leave it that way until they eventually drop in price or I find some used ones locally.

Okami is sorely tempting...

TheGameguru wrote:

What does the whole .5 in BSG even mean? after Sunday's Eagles game I think I may need some DVD's to watch on Sunday afternoons.. that and a great deal of beer.. man do I have a headache this morning.

That was a great game. Go Giants!

Does anyone know why Okami sold so poorly? It seems like that should have been a license to print money in Japan. It was well reviewed too, was it not?

hubbinsd wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:

What does the whole .5 in BSG even mean? after Sunday's Eagles game I think I may need some DVD's to watch on Sunday afternoons.. that and a great deal of beer.. man do I have a headache this morning.

That was a great game. Go Giants! :P

You'll get yours..your coach has a life of a few years.. then its mutiny.... I was so let down by our fans.. Burress at the Vet taking his helmet off and yelling at the fans in the seats would have recieved about 7-8 large objects at his head.. probably taking him out for the season..

new stadium.. nada.. to many rich people in the front rows. boourns.

My hatred for the Mannings grows even more (if thats possible)

RichyRambo wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:

What does the whole .5 in BSG even mean?

Second half of the season? I don't mind the season being released in two chunks, but almost charging the price of a FULL season for each 1/2 is kind of galling.

Lost - The Complete Second Season (24 Episodes) $36.87 (prices from Amazon)

Smallville - The Complete Fifth Season (22 Episodes) $37.87

Battlestar Galactica - Season 2.5 (Episodes 11-20) $32.49

Battlestar Galactica - Season 2.0 (Episodes 1-10) $35.35

Wow.. thats lame.. I'll pass and wait for Lost season 2 on DVD.

I am afraid Bratz: Forever Diamondz is going to handily beat Okami in sales.

P.s. IGN gave Okami a 9.1/Outstanding review score. I am definitely buying it tomorrow.

Farscry wrote:

Well, my temptation to pick up the BSG dvd's to watch the show just went out the window. I don't know what I'm missing, and I'll just leave it that way until they eventually drop in price or I find some used ones locally.

Okami is sorely tempting...

The latest OPM has a demo of it on their disk. I kinda dug it. A lot.

The same disk has a demo of Lego Star Wars II for extra cuteness too.

JimmDogg wrote:

Does anyone know why Okami sold so poorly? It seems like that should have been a license to print money in Japan. It was well reviewed too, was it not?

Complete mystery. That's all there is to it.

Anyway, I'm very glad to finally get ahold of this one. I've been eagerly anticipating it ever since it first showed up two E3s ago.

I don't see them selling a full Season 2 set for BSG any time soon, at least not until they come out with the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD version.

King's Quest Collection (09/18)
Police Quest Collection (09/18)
Space Quest Collection (09/18)

Yes! Assuming they all run fine on XP, they will be mine, as I missed many of the old and classic adventure games as I shunned all things windows during those days.

I hadn't even heard that these were going to come out.

Space Quest! That was a great series and some good times remembered. But I just know if I get it now it could very well just be 'blah'. But...:>)

Man, Okami comes out this week?.. I need to take a vacation day or two to get caught up on my backlog of games that need to be beat (Dead Rising, Saints Row, Company of Heroes, I'm looking at you!) before the huge list of AAA titles that are here or coming. *sighs*

It can be a lot of work relaxing this much!

The marketing people at Sci-Fi need to be shot. I too bought Season 2.0 unaware that it did not contain the entire season. (I figured "2.0" was a sci-fi way of saying Season 2) Sci-Fi isn't available where I live so I had no clue the season wasn't done. They are NOT getting my money for 2.5 however.

You know, I struggle to be honest and purchase these shows etc... when I really like them (I purchased BSG Season 1 and 2.0 at the same time after seeing 4 episodes on BT) but when the consumer gets punched in the face like this time and time again it can be hard to take the honourable route. Screw them this time.

How much did BSG Season 1 cost?

Staats wrote:

How much did BSG Season 1 cost?

Amazon Canada has it listed at 55.96, 'round what I paid for it at Futureshop.

Double kick to the nuts: I'd bought the Mini-series DVD about a month before season 1 came out, not knowing that the Season 1 set had the mini-series included in it

BSG Season 2 (2.0 + 2.5) is $67, so the increase is $12. That doesn't seem so unreasonable, actually. I'm not a BSG fan, but if it were for a show I really liked (especially in the underrepresented genre of Sci-Fi), I'd be cool paying a premium.

Staats wrote:

BSG Season 2 (2.0 + 2.5) is $67, so the increase is $12.

I paid $40 for Season 1 which includes the miniseries. I paid $45 for Season 2.0 which has about 2.5 times less content than Season 1. Season 2.5 is about $42. For $87 plus tax BSG Seasons 2.0 and 2.5 still have less content than the Season 1 DVD for $40.

Love the show. Hate the network. They routinely block Canadian customers from seeing their web video feeds too. (The BSG webisodes for example, were blocked) Morons. Even though we don't get the channel some of the shows are broadcast here and we might even buy DVDs if they stopped this reprehensible double dipping practice.

Spleen wrote:

I paid $40 for Season 1 which includes the miniseries. I paid $45 for Season 2.0 which has about 2.5 times less content than Season 1. Season 2.5 is about $42. For $87 plus tax BSG Seasons 2.0 and 2.5 still have less content than the Season 1 DVD for $40.

Season 1 only had 13 episodes (plus the mini), while Season 2 had 20 (10 on the 2.0 set, 10 plus the uncut "Pegasus" on 2.5).

Oops. My mistake Ratboy,thanks for pointing it out. My "2.5 times less content" is obviously out to lunch. I didn't have the DVDs handy when I was calculating and wrongly assumed that Season 1 must have had as many episodes as Season 2. I also did not know that Season 2.5 had an uncut version of "Pegasus" as I didn't buy it. What was cut from the original "Pegasus"?

Spleen wrote:

What was cut from the original "Pegasus"?

Some talky stuff that established a bit more of Cain's background and the full, unedited version of Boomer's rape scene.

I find this amazing that yet another totally "japanese" game has completely tanked in Japan. Why on earth is this happening? First Loco Roco, and now Okami. Man, I am starting to finally believe those people who say f*ck the japanese market... those japanese gamers are nuts!

It's not software, but doesn't the 360 camera come out this week as well?

Rat Boy wrote:
Spleen wrote:

What was cut from the original "Pegasus"?

Some talky stuff that established a bit more of Cain's background and the full, unedited version of Boomer's rape scene.

I say this fully aware that at some point, someone may misinterpret, either accidentally or maliciously, my character because you cannot see my anger and would not know the full extent of it if you could see me but...
What the hell did they do to Boomer? It looked like the assface interrogator would have been guilty of attempted rape but hadn't actually raped her. Obviously the assaults on Pegasus Six were wrong as well, my greater reaction is due to Boomer being "nearer and dearer". (Should the day come, sentient machines should be treated as equals.) Any respondents should feel free to pm me if they feel it necessary to avoid graphic discussion in public.

unedited version of Boomer's rape scene

SOLD!

All kidding aside. I'll borrow and watch it from someone, or I'll wait for my brother to buy it. Either way, it'll be mine eventually.

Here's the complete list of changes to "Pegasus" in case anyone's morbidly curious. Spoilers, of course.