New Games on The Great Games Experiment http://www.greatgamesexperiment.com/css/logo.jpg en-us Baten Kaitos follows Kalas and his friends in their attempt to gather the "End Magnus" and foil the plots of the evil empire. They travel over many extensive and colorful worlds trying to gather all of them, and along the way gather more people for their party or more enemies from the Empire. Each city has a specific theme to it (one is apparently made entirely out of candy and baked treats)

A Magnus is card with something's essence trapped within it. It can be anything from a powerful sword to an apple for restoring health. You fight with the battle magnus in a strange turn-based combat system. During your turn you may attack with your magnus, as you level you can attack with more of them at once. Each magnus has a number in the corner and if you create a combo with the numbers (ie. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7) it will do increased damage. The element of the magnus and monster in question can also affect damage done. But on your opponent's turn you can ALSO move by using your defense magnus to try and cancle out most of their damage.

But don't think too long about it, because you only have a few precious seconds to decide what magnus you want to use. It takes a great deal of skill and practice to master the best possible way to master the magnus cards.

You can have up to four people fighting together in the battle, it is wise to properly combine fighters to have the best offence and defence!

]]> 21 May 2007 11:22:08 Soul Edge (Soul Blade in Europe, North America and Australia) is the first installment in the Soul series of fighting games. It was initially released in the arcades in 1995. It was ported to the Sony PlayStation in 1996 where it is usually referred to as Soul Edge Version 2. This version was released in North America under the Soul Blade title. Soul Edge has been largely overshadowed by its sequel, Soul Calibur, which has been the moniker of the series since 1999.

Soul Edge is the name of the demonic sword, which the story revolves around.

It is the second 3D fighter to feature characters that fight with weapons, although putting weapons in fighters was not a new concept (Samurai Shodown is an example of a 2D fighter with weapons). Apart from the aesthetic benefits, giving the characters weapons allows for a greater diversity between them, meaning there is someone for every play style. One excellent concept of weapon-based combat implemented by Namco is the major factor that range has in gameplay. The slower, longer ranged characters try to deliver their heavy blows from a distance whereas the quicker, faster characters try to get in as close as possible and deliver quick-hitting attacks. All characters have moves that work at varying ranges though, so longer ranged characters can also hit surprisingly quickly and lesser ranged characters will get in the opponent's face within the blink of an eye if the enemy is careless.

One of the series' main attractions was that it was one of the first fighting games to feature detailed accounts of the individual fighters' motivations and common relations in their quest to achieve a common goal for varying purposes. Many players appreciate Namco's ability to introduce new characters to the series with interconnected storylines such that every character is linked to another somehow, with connections growing larger as the series progresses and the characters accomplish new tasks in the events of the story.

Soul Edge introduced many characters still familiar to players today, especially the series' main character--who serves as both a protagonist and an antagonist throughout the series' history--Siegfried; as well as its token samurai and ninja, Mitsurugi and Taki, respectively. The total of characters on the games is of 15 selectable characters: 10 in the Arcade release, and 15 in the Home Versions:

Original Arcade characters:

Mitsurugi - Uses a Katana.

Siegfried - Uses a Zweihänder.

Taki - Uses a Kodachi.

Li Long - Uses a bladed Nunchaku.

Sophitia - Uses a set of Sword and Shield.

Rock - Uses a Battle Axe.

Seung Mina - Uses a Zhanmadao.

Voldo - Uses a pair of Jamadhar Katars.

Hidden characters in the Arcade version, later made initially selectable in Home Versions:

Hwang - Uses a Chinese Sword.

Cervantes - Uses a pair of twin Long Swords.

Extra characters made only for Home Versions:

Han Myong - Uses a Dao

SoulEdge - Uses a pair of twin Long Swords

"Alternative" versions of certain characters, created exclusively for Home releases:

Siegfried! - Siegfried when possessed by Soul Edge in his Bad Ending. This concept would later evolve into Nightmare.

Sophitia! - Sophitia without armour.

Sophitia!! - Sophitia using a one-piece swimsuit.

--Original Source Text: Wikipedia.

]]> 23 Feb 2007 12:33:42 Continuing its illustrious history, Ridge Racer 7 returns as a title on the PlayStation 3 platform. Drift around corners at speeds over 160 mph taking the lead as Ridge Racer 7 brings gamers a driving experience unlike any other.
With a new platform comes new territory as RR7 promises to reinvent itself, allowing players to choose from 40 different machines and over 20 courses. With reversed courses, the total grows to 40, most in the series ever! Players can further enjoy the drift racing experience by taking part in the new customization mode, opening up the experience with up to 200,000 customization combinations. With full support of Sony’s new network service, Ridge Racer fans have an entirely new world to explore and drift through!

]]> 19 Feb 2007 01:40:41 With a formula that's simple but addictive, Katamari Damacy has earned a massive following for its quirky and innovative gameplay. You are a tiny prince charged with the task of rebuilding the majority of the solar system, which was recently destroyed by the King of All Cosmos while apparently on a drunken rampage. To accomplish this goal, you must gather enough material on Earth to replace each celestial body in turn. And the best way to gather material is by rolling it up, of course, in a wondrous ball called a "katamari" that happens to adhere to any object smaller than it.

Katamari Damacy runs through a series of time-constrained levels in which you must increase the size of your katamari to a predetermined diameter by rolling up as much as possible, as quickly as possible. Since you can only roll up objects smaller than yourself, the challenge comes in finding progressively larger items to roll up--but that are not too large. Katamari roll control is simple and done using only the analog sticks. The scale of the katamari varies immensely, and so do the areas of the world available to explore in parallel. You may find yourself picking thumbtacks up off the floor, only to later be ripping the very house off its foundation.

In addition to its unique gameplay, the quirky humor and stylized graphics lend themselves nicely towards Katamari Damacy's distinctive flavor. The King of All Cosmos serves the role of jovial narrator as he guides the prince through the game, but is a strict and demanding father, and will quickly turn on you should you fail a level. All the while he refers to himself using the "royal we," and speaks with a record-scratching sound effect. The game world itself features intentionally blocky and Lego-esque graphics, and is filled with a variety of whacky denizens who may attack your katamari or run from it, screaming for their lives. With a style as original as any, Katamari Damacy has rolled up the favor of gamers everywhere.

]]> 09 Feb 2007 01:59:50 Meet Jack Slate, a cop who's having a bad day. Framed for murder and facing execution, he makes a daring escape from the Iron Point Maximum-Security Penitentiary. Driven to bring the criminal element that framed him to justice, Slate hunts the hunters in this gritty, crime-noir inspired epic. He finds himself alone and on the run trying to survive the hard streets of Grant City. Without a home and pitifully few friends, what Jack discovers sends him on a downward spiral into a labyrinth of corruption, betrayal, and crime. With super-charged gameplay, jaw-dropping graphics, and hard-boiled storytelling, Dead to Rights raises the bar on the crime action-thriller genre.

]]> 02 Feb 2007 11:45:00 Baten Kaitos Origins is a prequel to Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean, a Gamecube exclusive title released in 2004. The plot revolves around a group of characters who are struggling to discover the source of frightening changes (both natural and political) that are occurring in their world. During their journey, they will learn many details and help flesh out the first game- including how the despotic Empire government came to be.

In the initial stages, your party will progress in a linear fashion, moving from one area to the next along a set path. After you play the game for a while, you'll acquire a ship that lets you visit areas in the order of your choosing, allowing you to either pursue optional side-quests or blast through the main mission as you see fit.

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