Ikaruga

Elitist gamers have been clamoring for years about Ikaruga, hoisting it up as a video game so cool that you can’t play it.

As an elitist, swiss cheese-eating, windsurfing liberal all-around snob, I couldn’t wait for an opportunity to play it. Previously released on the Dreamcast and again on the Gamecube, this title seemed nearly impossible to find due to small print runs, at least according to my non-existent research. Luckily, Xbox Live Arcade brought it out last week for all you gun-loving church goers out there to get your bitter hands on.

Ikaruga is an old school arcade style shoot ‘em up at heart. You have a ship, you shoot floating enemies that shoot back at you. The game is famous for it’s innovative play: you switch polarity between white and black using the B button. Enemies are either white or black. You can absorb bullets of the color you are currently sporting. You do double damage (or get double points?) for exploding an enemy of the opposite color of the one you are currently sporting. It does not seem simple, as some would say, and then go on to explain the subtle details that make it complex. It’s confusing from the get go. I still barely get it. But it is fucking fun.

The gameplay encourages rigid memorization and twitchy gameplay. I have gotten to the third level, and I can see that I’ll be needing to play it quite a few more times before I remember when to shoot what where and which color I should be. But the bottom line is that it is a blast, and a great opportunity for y’all to jump on this previously hard-to-find game.

It’s 800 points. Ten bucks. Go for it.

Here is the famous clip of some dude playing both 1 and 2 player ships at the same time. He wasted a significant portion of his life:

What no Swirlies? Whatever...

I haven’t come across any stand out games in a while so it was a nice surprise when I found out that the 360 was reissuing Bully: Scholarship Edition for the next gen. I had played it a bit on the PS2 and had really liked it as a toned down GTA type game.

I know there was some controversy how it might promote school bullying and be a bad influence on school age children The game skirted the controversy a bit by having the main character stand up to all types of bullies aswell as act like one. And besides, only losers get bullied. O’Doyle Rules!!!

I’ll tell you know I love this game. Coming from an elite private school myself where I was nurtured and allowed to excel in all areas of academia, I have had a clear advantage over regular public school lower people and dweebs in general. This game is fun because it takes that experience and twists it into a very funny and well-designed game. The main character, Jimmy Hopkins, is nothing special but the game involves so many hilarious classic stereotypes; jocks, preppies, nerds, teachers.

The storyline is great and the game play is really varied allowing for a more satisfying gaming experience. There is nothing really new and inventive about the game-play itself but the setting and storyline are very unique. The standard missions, which revolve around mini mission and school classes, can involve anything from first person shooter to button response to word puzzles. They even have an dissection part that pulls from the Wii’s Trauma Center.

I also really like how Rockstar pushes the envelope with the Over the Rainbow achievement point. You get 20 A.P. for Getting Kissed by 20 Boys. Stick it to the homophobes! . I know my friends over at http://gaygamer.net were pretty psyched. But make sure you pass at least one “Art Class” before you try to do any boy-on-boy kissing. It takes an artistic touch.

So go off and enjoy. Just don’t bully anyone in the process. But it you have to, just make sure you say afterwards “ I’m just messing with you. Can’t you take a joke?” You’re pretty much untouchable after that.

What the up is

I haven't played a new game in weeks. Other than Smash Bros., it has been months even since I've tried something new and fresh out. I have been struggling to think of a topic to write about here at Laser Blade Games Div.

Now that it has been a year since I've gotten my XBox 360, I have finally cooled off on playing it at the insane rate I was up until Xmas. I still love it, and play it pretty often. But I've also been playing the Wii a lot more. I have so many games that I haven't even played half of the way through yet, and I am having a blast chipping away at all of them, all at once.

I don't stick to one game, then move onto the next. I'm constantly popping games in and out of both systems, switching the AV cables to go from XBox to Wii... Mario Galaxy, Halo 3, Undertow... I even started playing Shadowrun again. It's still great!

Back when I was 26, I used to be an XBox.com nerd. I'd be on there a several times a day at work, checking what my buddies were playing, checking gamerscores, even reading forums. Ah, to be young again.

Now that I am to be wed next month (!) and the bills are stacking up, I've become a much more frugal gamer. Actually, I think it's just that no games have come out that I want. Besides Smash Bros. of course. There are a few DS games that I might have bought if I weren't in the red, but really, the DS doesn't do it for me so much. I can't get into it. The only games I've gotten all the way through are New Super Mario Bros. (too easy, short) and Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin.

So, I'll keep playing what I have until Gears of War 2 comes out.

Holy flaming cow!

I'm really, really excited to say that the website I write for (well, the main one, anyway), has been nominated for a Webby!

The Webbys are called "the Oscars of the Internet", though admittedly that's by the people who organize the damn thing. The Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences hands out awards to sites it believes deserves recognition. Last year, we weren't even on their radar, this year, we're nominated.

We don't stand a chance of winning -- we're up against last year's winner, Gamasutra, and The Escapist, which has top-notch writing and Zero Punctuation, to boot -- but we're still jumping up and down. No joke, it really is just an honor to be nominated. The three of us work really, really hard to provide good content on a daily basis, and just to know that someone other than our moms is reading is very thrilling, indeed.

Paul Zander Strikes Back!!!

It is not often that my nerdlinessness is called into question. It has taken me a few days to digest the ludicrisnesity of Matt's last statement. While yes, I have enjoy many lewd encounters with hot chicks (not nerdy) and No, I don’t have a deceptcons tattoo anywhere on my body (very nerdy), you must look past my gamertag to see the inner workings of a truly grand nerd.

Exhibit A – My current reading. A Game of Thrones

The book synopsis starts off like - "Prince Rhaegar Targaryen kidnapped Lyanna Stark, arousing the ire of her family and of her betrothed, Lord Robert Baratheon (the war's titular rebel). The Mad King, Aerys II Targaryen, had Lyanna's father and eldest brother executed when they demanded her safe return."

Exhibit B - I play Warhammer

Meet my Warhammer character Taulos D'Brionne, a charismatic Knight of Bretonnia! Taulos, a squire, is on a journey to find himself in hopes of channeling the Lady of Lake. I am ruled by spiritual and mystical leaders, the Fay Enchantress, her Damsels, and the Grail Knights.

And YES we do actually role play. Here is an excerpt from our Game Master after our first sesh.

"I hope everyone is having a pleasant holiday thus far. I just wanted to send a brief email that summarized Tuesday night's adventure.

The group started out together in the town of Untergard. Untergard had just begun to recover from the Storm of Chaos when our heroes arrived. The adventure began when Captain Schiller, head of the town watch, arrived with fresh supplies to the beleaguered people of Untergard. Suddenly, a shot rang out from the eastern side of the town. As the inhabitants of Untergard broke into a panic, the young squire Taulos D'Brionne(P Zander), noticed a number of mutants rushing across the bridge towards our heroes. The heroes rushed to meet the mutants charge. With Mors(Jesse) and Boris(Larry) leading the charge, the two hirsute warriors quickly dispatched two of the mutants. Mors was particularly vicious with a killing blow with his warhammer that completely pulverised one mutant's head. Taulous slew another mutant with some fancy sword-work. The elven wizard Mal Ra(Brendan) got into the fray by successfully casting a sleep spell on the last mutant. The sleepy mutant then awoke, albeit briefly, to a killing blow from Grundy's(Nat) warhammer. Now that's what I call teamwork!"

Exhibit C - I have a Video Game Blog. Check it out at http://laserbladegames.blogspot.com/

Take in the evidence and you will see my case stands up to Matt's attacks. He's obviously obsessed with me or something. Also, the only reason that I am playing those games is because I finished Mass Effect in a week and yeah, I finished the side missions! I also banged the nerdy blue ALIEN!!! So there DoctorDumb99. Yeah!!!

P Zander, I'm Calling You Out

Whoa.

It's RPG in the hizzouse here at Laser Blade (pyew pyew) Games. I'm playing the atrocious, yet oddly addictive Two Worlds; Susan is cavorting her way through Oblivion again, Brendan is trying to score with human women in Mass Effect (I don't think his pimp hand is storng enough, personally), and P Zander is...

Wait.

Bully? Rock Band? Two Sports games!?!? P Zander you're screwing up our geek flow! You need some role-playing game STAT. My challenege to you, P Zander, is to let go of the endless well of socially-acceptable cool that you grasp so lovingly and join us in the RPG world, where leveling up characters and collecting phat lewtz take precedence over other things like style and members of the opposite sex (haha, sex).

Meet me behind the Cafeteria at noon if you accept this challenge.