Gaming of a Budget 5

Another bargain, this time from the crew over at DVD Crave. This time the must own title Ninja Gaiden for about $43. Which is a steal of a price for such a great game. But using the $20 cash back voucher from Microsoft that came with my recently purchased second Xbox is knocks it down to a tiny $23!

I'm still waiting for my Sega History Collection items to arrive from HLJ, there probably still in customs being extensively prodded. I guess that what you get when you select super long happy shipping method.

The JS 965

As promised here is a pic of the JoyTech AV Control Center, or the JS965 which sounds like some sort of vehicle from Star Trek.



It's not the best picture, and doesn't show up the four blue LEDs it has on the front, which indicate which source is currently selected. As you can see from the Toshiba sitting on top of it the JoyTech unit is the same width, which is great because it doesn't look out of place with other gear in a entertainment unit. It's about a deep as a standard DVD player as well.

It also comes with a small credit card remote to select the source, but I don't really have much need for it.

Hit That Switch

I forgot to mention that I recently purchased a Joytech AV Control Center. I used to have a single switch and the optical cables going into a splitter/joiner, but it was just rubbish and messy. This unit puts it all into one tidy unit. It's essentially just a switcher, but it supports up to 4 S-Video and Optical, SCART and Composite connections, so it's a great all in one unit and looks the good as well. I'll post some pics in the next post.

I finally managed to order a copy of Metal Slug 3 for Xbox, so I'll post some impressions of that once I get it.

I was going to mention something else but now it's just gone, so for the moment I'll leave it at this.

Aww The Waiting Game Sucks

It's been a week or so since CD-Wow said they would have Metal Slug 3 on Xbox in stock, and still no joy. After a few emails with one of the very helpful support staff, their stock is expected to be with them in the next day or two, yay. Apparently it's some customs delay.

I'm also still waiting on some Sega History Collection items from HLJ. Which I'll post some nice detailed shots of when they arrive.

I'm expecting Metal Gear Solid 2 to arrive this week sometime as well.

Apart from that, I'm waiting for King of Fighters '00/01 for PS2 to be released, as well as Guilty Gear X2 for PS2 due out Friday in the UK.

As always nothing happens and then it's all at once. I'm not complaining though, it's all good, and on the upside I'll have plenty to keep me occupied.

Oh as an update to Viewtiful Joe and unlocking Dante, he rocks. Capcom went all out with adding him as a playable character. You actually use your sword to attack, and if you punch while in the air you use his gun to fire shots at enemies. He also has some other neat little additions, one being when you double jump a little pentagram appears below you. He also has his own sort of storyline, which is very strange. Anyway a great addition to the game.

I would have posted earlier today, but I remembered about it then went and got lunch and didn't think about it until I got home. So it's a late update ;P

Gaming on a Budget 4

Well another day another bargain. This times it's the long loved franchise Metal Gear Solid. The bargain, Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance for the Xbox. Price payed: $36. A bargain indeed.

Now I know that MGS:2 is a fairly old game, and MGS3 is due out here in a month or so. But I don't have it in my collection and have played it but never finished it. Plus Substance comes with a load of extras which I would like to check out, and with MGS3 being available soon, I want to at least finish MGS2 first.

I'm not one of the Old Skool players of the MGS series who have been into it since the NES days. I originally picked up the import for the PSX back in about '98. I've got some fond memories of playing though that game and finishing it, all in Japanese as well. Plus I don't know if I prefer the MGS series over something like Splinter Cell, but I really love the feeling and atmosphere portrayed in the games. Good times.

When To Take Notice

When Viewtiful Joe originally appeared on the Gamecube I took little notice of it, not because it didn't interest me, but because I didn't and still don't own a Gamecube. I will pick up a Gamecube at some point they are only $115 anyway.

Though I remember many people commenting on Viewtiful Joe and seeing a fair bit about it, and also a lot of comments on the great but fairly hard gameplay. Luckily for me it's been released on the PS2 and I picked it up as soon as I could.

Viewtiful Joe is pretty much what everyone else has said it is. A great 2D/3D side scrolling cel-shaded platformer. It's simple yet addictive gameplay that everyone should really check out. I picked it up for $40, and at that it's a real bargain. Plus with Viewtiful Joe 2 coming soon, you should really check out the first one now.

The PS2 has a few extra features, one being the ability to play as Dante from Devil May Cry, which you unlock after completing the game.

The game has that great Capcom style to it and while at times can be a little difficult, plus I don't totally agree with some of the play aspects in it. These would be having to purchase extra lives in the store, but the price goes up each time, making it more difficult to afford another like especially after a very difficult section in the game. Another being at times the lack of direction the game gives you while solving a puzzle or navigating a level.

But these are little things and the style and substance of the game more than makes up for most of the frustrating aspects of it. Also it's a game you won't to play through again just for some of the cool things you can do.

Hadouken

I haven't posted anything in a month, and I don't really have an excuse for it at all. But from now on this site will be updated a the very least on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I'll have more game write-up's and the such as well since I've been picking up a few more titles recently.

I also had to buy a new Xbox because mine was just giving me far too much grief, after taking it apart 3 times and adjusting the DVD-Rom, it just wasn't reliable enough. So traded it in at EB and picked up the new Ultimate Entertainment Pack, not a bad deal, and now I finally have a reliable Xbox.

Anyway onto the fun. Street Fighter Anniversary Collection for the Xbox. I had pretty much forgotten about this getting a PAL release until there was some news around about the region free Japanese version.

Apart from being ridiculously hard or harder than I remember it's nice to be able to play Street Fighter II again, and get a chance to play Street Fighter 3rd strike which I didn't get around to picking up on the Dreamcast.

I'm fairly sure the difficulty is related to playing the game with the Xbox pad, I really can't get used to it. You have to use the Black and White buttons, and they just aren't accessible enough when playing something fast paced like SF3:TS.

There isn't the depth present in the recent SNK vs Capcom series. The game it's self is pretty shallow, and probably only worth about $50 for a quick thrash. Nice to go back to everynow and then, plus it has Live support, oh and the Street Fighter Animated Movie, even if the quality is pretty shite.