Dominate the dance floor - DJ MAX Portable 3 comes is October and is available for preorder now!

DJ MAX is building a steadily growing fan base both within Korea and overseas with their cute characters, hot dance beats and stylish graphics. Those who live in the Korea could go to the arcades to enjoy this touch screen phenomenon, but those who are overseas, as long as you have your Sony PSP consoles, you are part of the community.

Come sway to the rhythm and play out the tempo of the hottest Korean and Japanese pop songs - DJ MAX 3 will come this October. The best composers are back to contribute their work, look forward to more of: Planetboom, NieN, makou, myagi, DJ Keri, PIA and Vanilla Unity!

Besides new songs and sexy background dancers, the newest installment has the challenging Remix Mode where you get to feel the excitement of being behind the turntables, dominating the beat of the dance floor.

And instead of just pressing buttons, you'll have control of the analogue stick, give it a swing when you're given the cue to change gears.

Those who've mastered Black Square, come take up the challenge again.

Like all Limited Editions in the DJ MAX series, this box set comes with an ample amount of exclusive items: The twin disc Original Soundtrack album comes with all the music to sate your DJ MAX addiction, there's also a beautifully color printed art book and a special UMD package.

The First Print Regular Edition features a different cover from the usual Regular Editions that comes after this. If you want to set your game apart from the masses, this is the copy to get!

Games waiting for your preorders! Tales of Graces F & The 3rd Birthday!

Two really hot games are announced and are waiting for preorders, they are are Tales of Graces F and The 3rd Birthday - a continuation in the Parasite Eve series.

Tales of Graces F is not a mere port of the original Nintendo™ Wii version, it expands the Efinea world and includes the epilogue of the game. This brand new branch of the plot takes place half a year after the great war, where Richard and Asbel become King and mayor respectively.

Everyone has found a place in the new system, yet, not all is good and well. A new mysterious force is threatening the world. Come again, even if you've saved the world once.

Monsters - the Twisted, that spawned in the far future devoured all the humans, and when they destroyed the whole earth, they spiral time backwards to the past to repeat the carnage. In 2012, the authorities created the Over Dive system, a weapon that could perhaps save the future and the past. However, there is only one person who's compatible with this technology - Aya Brea, the girl without a past.

Travel through time and eliminate the horde of Twisted. Take over the bodies of the people who inhabits the time frame to battle. The Over Dive system offers you one chance to turn the situation around when it reaches the full gauge, your attack power rises several times fold. But one mistake, you'll be gone, and the world will go with you.

Both Tales of Graces F and The 3rd Birthday come this December, you have a very busy holiday season before you indeed!



Here's a trailer of the 3rd Birthday, see if it matches your expectations of the game!

Destroy Aizen and the Espada once and for all - Bleach: Heat the Soul 7 - Available for preorder today!

Aizen have put you and your friends through numerous dangers ever since he schemed to have Rukia executed. After facing all the trials he threw at you, you finally have a chance to finish off the team of Espada and the big boss himself in Heat the Soul 7.

Be ready to battle Aizen and his Espada troops. Train up your fighting abilities in the Tutorial Mode. If you've never picked up a Zanpakuto before in your life, you can start with Easy and when you are more confident, you can go to the more difficult settings.

Heat the Soul 7 features a new fight mode - the Battle Royale. Ask some friends to join and see who could stay fighting till the very end. Besides seeing the end of Aizen, you'd also meet the original character Muramasa and play missions from the original story- Zanpakuto Ibunroku.

Bleach: Heat the Soul 7 will come in early September and you can preorder your copy today.

Live on Sony PSP™ - K-On! Houkago Live!! and the Accessory Pack available for preorder today!

The K-On! girls get their big break, and you'll share their excitement with them. The After School Tea Time is open for all music lovers and gamers to join and jam together. Maybe you'll be the next Hirasawa Yui to find where your dreams and talents lie.

After bringing the Vocaloid idol Miku and her friends to the Sony PSP, Sega decides to bring the K-ON! girls to your wide screen. See the girls interact in the event scenes, listen to their cute and energetic voices and watch them play around in Chibi forms.

The rules of the game are simple, just press the right button when the note hits the bar. Jam songs with your favorite girl band After School Tea Time and play their songs, such as Cagayake Girls and Don't Say Lazy. You'll win items and costumes when you clear stages. So dress the girls up and decorate the room as you go along.

Turn on your adhoc network function to call your friends to jam song. The complicated music become easy jobs if you play together. A total of five people can join a session, so step into the shoes of your dream girl and play.

K-On! Houkago Live!! will come in September.

To celebrate the event and show your affection for the girls, dress your Sony PSP up the K-ON! way. The accessory pack comes with a pouch to protect your console from falls, a silicon cover which bears Yui's silhouette and music notes, and 5 UMD cases that feature all 5 girls. The set is also coming in September.

Random Flavor: Lego Star Wars

If you've been keeping up with "Flavor's Random Pick" (which I'm toying with renaming "Random Flavor" as in this post's title) you may have noticed that I tend toward two things: hand-held games and games I can play with my kids. In a weird way, this pick breaks both molds while actually adhering to both.

Lego Star Wars came out back in 2005. It allowed you to play through episodes 1, 2, and 3 which was actually very cool because episode 3 hadn't even come out in theaters yet. I remember watching Ep3 on the big screen and recognizing certain scenes from playing the game.

When I first got the game, I didn't intend to play it with my kids. I thought it would be something okay to play while the kids were around, but it wasn't thought of as something they would play. I do remember letting my oldest (and the only one that was alive at the time) play it a bit, but she just pushed buttons and such. It was a great game then, and now that the kids are a little older, it's a great game for them to play. The animated violence consists of characters breaking into lego bricks, so it's not real graphic. You can easily play cooperatively with a 5-year-old, and a 3-year-old could still tag along if you help them a lot.

Oh, and as I mentioned, this game was not a hand-held game. I played it on my XBox (not 360) back when it came out. Now, though, it is available for almost every game system. If you want it on the go, you can get it for the DS or PSP. If you want it on a home console, pick your favorite and I'm sure you'll find it.

It's also worth noting that, even if you're not into Star Wars, you may find a Lego videogame that you are into. The franchise has branched out to other movie franchises, so you can now find Lego Batman, Lego Harry Potter, Lego Indiana Jones, etc.

If you're looking for a fun game, and you haven't tried any of the Lego games, check one out. If you're looking for something to play with your kids and they're into any of the movie franchises that have a Lego game, go for it. You can't really go wrong with any of them, and if you're reading this blog you already have one of the systems to play it on.

E3 Conference Summary Part 3 - Sony

Last but not least, in part 3 of the E3 conferences, I'll be writing about Sony's conference which was just under the two hour mark. It wasn't boring though and there were some surprises, especially in the PSP section. Prediction wise, I was pretty far off on the Sony conference, so make sure to read on to get the a summary of the whole presentation.

Sony started the presentation by spouting figures and making sure to let everyone know the PS2 is still going strong with 100 titles to be released this year. The rest isn't worth noting.

After a bit, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves gameplay was shown and as expected, it looks awesome and improves on the original in every way. There seems to be even more detail and one bit where Nathan stands up high overlooking a city was very impressive.



MAG was played with the full 256 players online. It seems to be the only redeeming feature of the game as it looked incredibly generic and failed to impress me. Maybe it will be fun to play, but it will depend on the objectives and reliability of the servers. Respawning seemed quick and the game is coming this fall.



Next, the worst kept secret was shown. It's called the PSP Go and features the same PSP hardware except a missing UMD drive, 16GB on-board flash memory and sliding screen as well as bluetooth. It was made clear that it won't be replacing the current PSP-3000 model and is for digital download fans. It will cost US$ 249, Euro 249 for each respective region and be released on October 1. Japane will recieve it one month later at a price of 26,800 Yen. Make no mistake, that's a hard price to swallow for this piece of equipment. I have this nagging voice screaming FAIL, but we shall see. It looks okay.



Big surprise next. Gran Turismo PSP announced to be launching with the PSP Go on October 1. Featuring 800 cars, 35 tracks and running at a constant 60fps, it's just freaking awesome. And here I was predicting it wouldn't show up this year either, what a pleasent surprise. Only a video trailer was shown, no gameplay footage, but the game was playable at E3.

Another Metal Gear Solid game was announced, titled Peace Walker and is set 10 years after Metal Gear Solid 3. Apparently the game will be a true sequel and not a spinoff title. Sounds good to me. This one has a 2010 release date and is looking quite good indeed.



Another surprising announcement. Resident Evil is coming to PSP. A whole new game, PSP exclusive. Along with LittleBigPlanet, Motorstorm Arctic Edge, Assassin's Creed, SOCOM FTB 3, Soul Calibur, Jak and Daxter and more, you can see the PSP is having a much needed revival. It's looking to be a bright future for the handheld.

Onto PS3 now, there will be a new IP from Rockstar exclusively for the PS3 known as "Agent". Expect a James Bond type game with GTA type gameplay. Nothing was shown, but I'm sure that's what it will be.

Assassin's Creed 2 for PS3 is played. It looks fantastic and the game seems to have been improved in every way. I'm really looking forward to this one.



A Final Fantasy XIII video was shown, nothing new here. This was followed by (surprise) an announcement of Final Fantasy XIV which will be released next year! It's an online only title and is a PS3 exclusive.



Not to be outdone by Microsoft, Sony showed a motion controller of their own, similar to a Wiimote, except it seemed to very accurate. Use it as a sword, bow and arrow, gun, it all seems to work well. Again, without any actual games, we'll see how well it works.



A game called ModNation Racers was shown. It's a Kart game, which takes it's cue from LBP for the ability to create levels and share them. The track editor was very impressive and easy to use. A decent track was created in five minutes. The game itself though, didn't look so interesting or good, but it's coming out next year so it might get a lot of improvements.



Team ICO showed off their next game titled The Last Guardian. Graphics looks fantastic and it's sure to be a good game.



A teaser trailer for Gran Turismo 5 was shown. No additional info or release date. I won't bother posting it, it's not worth watching.

Everyone was excited to see a demo of God of War 3 at the end. It looks good of course, but it's just more of the same. The presentation ended with many a "Awww' from the audience as they wanted to see more of the game.



Overall a great presentation with some surprises, especially on the PSP side of things and Gran Turismo PSP and Resident Evil PSP made me a fan of the PSP once more. Seriously, I thought the system was on the brink of death. That's all for this year, hope you enjoyed it!

Games to Own #5 - Jeanne D'Arc

Welcome to another edition of "Games to Own", where I guide you, the shopper to great games that didn't sell well or weren't as popular as they should have been. It's another portable game this time and another PSP one at that.

Sadly, Jeanne D'Arc slipped away from gamers radars quite quickly, even though it's a high quality, AAA PSP game. Why? I think there wasn't enough hype or marketing behind it. Maybe you've played games such as Tactics Ogre, Disgaea or Final Fantasy Tactics before? Jeanne D'arc is the same type of turn based RPG. A grid makes up the levels, but there's also plenty of scenery and backgrounds added too, which can prevent you from moving in those directions. Each turn you can move your troops (up to seven characters) as far as they're allowed in your turn and attack the enemy.

If you didn't know already, the game is based on Joan of Arc, but takes plenty of liberties story wise. Ogres and Dragons? Check. Magic? Check. Demon Gods? Check. The story is actually a high point of the game and is told quite well with some cool Anime video's with good voice acting.

Graphics wise, the "tactics" types of games have always been lacking. But Jeanne D'Arc looks really good, thanks to the high quality 3D graphics for both the backgrounds and the characters. Of course, all this would be for naught if the game wasn't fun to play. And if it wasn't, I wouldn't be writing about it! Jeanne D'Arc is a must have game for the PSP, it presents the tried and working formula of the turn based RPG, adds some twists and provides and long and engaging adventure.

9.1 out of 10

Games to Own #4 - Metal Slug Anthology

Here's the first handheld game to join the "Games to Own" ranks. Compilations often fail to satisfy, often with stingy collections of games, games that show their age or poor ports/emulation bringing down the experience. I'm glad to say that Metal Slug Anthology does not follow this tradition and SNK Playmore have done a stellar job in bringing the arcade games to the PSP.

I have fond memories of playing Metal Slug with a friend at the arcades, back when arcades were still alive in the west. For me, it was the perfect pickup and play game for the arcades. In fact, the Metal Slug series are some of my favorite arcade games ever. You're a one man (or women) army against an actual army and one hit kills and deaths is the name of the game. The massive boss machines on the other hand, require a lot more punishment.

The PSP collection contains seven Metal Slug games, yes that's correct, SEVEN. It's a very generous and good value collection indeed! Included is Metal Slug, Metal Slug 2, Metal Slug X, Metal Slug 3, Metal Slug 4, Metal Slug 5 and Metal Slug 6. My favorite game being Metal Slug X, which is a sort of directors cut or upgrade of Metal Slug 2. It features new enemies and some level design improvements/upgrades. Metal Slug 3 was the last game the original SNK team made and none of the latter ones by SNK Playmore compare even to the first three, but they're still good fun.

Each game plays well on the PSP and looks good even in the stretched widescreen mode, although you can play it in its original 4:3 ratio if you want to. Metal Slug can also be played with two players and the co-op with wireless works great. Make sure to pick up another copy if you have two PSP's and a friend to play with. I give this Anthology 9 Heavy Machine Gun's out of 10.

Future Prediction - Handhelds Part 1

Want to know what the next handhelds from Sony and Nintendo will be like specification wise? In each part of this two post article, I will examine current technological trends, using some basic research and assumption skills to predict the next handheld offering from each respective company.

Will I be on the ball, or fail miserably, you be the judge! Either way, I hope you enjoy these future predictions and when the time comes, be sure to remember how close or far off these posts were! Read on as I analyse and predict each feature of a certain handheld, which will be known as the PlayStation Portable 2 or PSP2 for short.

The name is the easiest part. Just look at the names of Sony's consoles to get the idea. PlayStation Portable is a brand name Sony has invested in and they'll be sure to slap on a two at the end of the name for the next handheld offering.

Size and Shape

The PSP2 will have a similar overall shape to the current PSP Slim & Lite, but will have a bit more depth below the screen and be a bit thicker to fit in all the new technology. Two analog sticks will now be present. It will also be a bit heavier and have different styling, making it look a lot like the PSP1.

Screen

A 4.3inch OLED (organic LED) touch screen will take up most of the front of the handheld. This is the same size as the PSP1 screen. The OLED technology will provide the best possible screen which will put the PSP1's LCD screen to shame. Ability to play in daylight, low power consumption, super thin and superior picture quality will round off the package. Why a touch screen? After the success of the DS, Sony is sure to have learned its lesson and the PSP2 will also function as a PDA by using this feature.

Processor

After investing heavily in the Cell processor for the PS3, Sony will be using a mobile version of the chip for it's PSP2 system. The chip will use 45nm technology to save on battery life and will be clocked at 2.6Ghz.

Graphics

The relationship with Nvidia will continue and Sony will use a custom mobile version of Nvidia's graphics processors to provide the grunt work. It will run at 300mhz.

Graphics capability of games will be comparable to launch PS3 titles, but will be a bit inferior in detail and physics.

Sound

The PSP2 will have standard high quality stereo sound. Music will sound great and games will have even higher quality audio then on the PSP1.

Memory

128mb of main memory. 128mb video memory.

Storage

The PSP2 will come with 8GB space inbuilt via flash memory, but will also support the latest Memory Stick Pro Duo's for extra storage. Games will have the option of being installed on to the drive space or memory stick for faster loading time.

Media

An improved UMD drive with faster reading and seek times using a blue laser to bring storage capacity of one disc up to 6.5gb. Expect perfect quality video and no more limitations on voice acting in games.

This new UMD drive will also be compatible with PSP1 UMD games and movies, but PSP game backward compatibility will be handled via emulation.

Other Hardware Features

The PSP2 will also feature a motion sensor (similar to sixaxis), wireless and bluetooth (with the ability to use it as a controller for PS3) and a USB 3.0 port. It will also have a 3MP camera (no flash).

Operation System Features

The XMB interface will return and access to the PlayStation Network, trophies and online gaming will be available from day one. An Internet Browser just like the PS3 one will be included.

Battery Life

Expect battery life while using games to be around 4-5 hours.

Release Date

The PSP2 will be announced in late 2011 and will be unveiled in 2012 with a December 2012 release date in Japan.

What I'd like to see in the PSP 4000 model

The PSP 3000 model introduced some new improvements to the existing Slim & Lite (PSP 2000) model, but it took a major step back in the LCD screen department. Reports of ghosting, interlacing and unnatural color reproduction have made the new PSP an unworthy upgrade of the previous Slim & Lite. The screen is very important, since we do spent many hours staring at it. So, here's a wish list for the inevitable future PSP 4000.

Include OLED (Organic LED) screen technology. It puts LCD and Plasma to shame with superior color reproduction, amazing contrast ratios, no dead pixels, no response rate issues and no backlight needed. The OLED screen creates its own light and is reported to be visible even in sunlight. It also uses a lot less power which is a must for handhelds. It's time the PSP makes use of this excellent new technology.

Bluetooth would also be useful for various reasons such as sharing content with a cell phone or connecting to the internet if not within wireless reach.

And of course trophies. Why are there no trophies in PSP games now that the PSP is able to access the PlayStation Network? This should have been included in an update a long time ago.

The final missing piece to the puzzle is AAA games. There's just not enough AAA titles on the PSP, with lackluster support from Sony having put the PSP in its current predicament. Gran Turismo Mobile that was shown before the PSP even launched and still hasn't been released. It's no surprise PSP owners are dissapointed.

Bokujou Monogatari / Harvest Moon - Soil a large corporation's plans through a hoe and a water can

A huge company is threatening to take over your plot of farmland and your way of life, so as a farm boy and a law abiding citizen, what are you to do? Make your land prosper and get it back through constructive ways.

Marriage and farming have always been centerpiece in the Harvest Moon series, however, the addition of the task to soil a big corporation's project has come at a very suitable time.

Anger and blood lust have reached its peak in the last few days and taking up fire arms is not a very sane way to relieve it. The whole finance/economic system is in need of a restructuring, and farming is one of the best places to start.

If bringing a large corporation down by hoes, water cans, cows and chickens could not sate your blood lust, come take up a sword and slay some monsters in Rune Factory Frontier on your Nintendo Wii system.

Given the violent crimes that are happening within the last 365 days (some involves shootings, other include knifes and other sharp instruments) government officials as well as moral groups that may know nothing about the array of genres available are all too ready to propose the banning of games and police media in the name of protecting the young.

Not only are the connection between violent games and crime difficult to prove, and in addition to that, not all games are violent, as I'm sure a lot of people may have noticed already. Harvest Moon is one of the many games that encourages creation and a series that parents will not be afraid to let their children play.

Although the act of farming is highly idealized in the series, it could be a way to inspire people to get closer to nature and have some fun in a more peaceful way.

And admittedly, engaging in violent acts in games can be very liberating and stress relieving at times. Most people have the ability to contain their frustrations in the virtual world and those who released it in the real world may not be gamers at all, so why not try to understand the community before proposing bans?

RPGs that are cute - Mana Khemia, Annie no Atilier

The idea of magic schools has existed long before Harry Potter comes into being, but the popular franchise seems to have brought about the rise in a number of these academic institutions, and Mana Khemia is one of them. Although strictly speaking, alchemists are neither witches nor wizards, the idea of turning soil in to gold is nothing less appealing (especially in an age where gold turns into soil).

Let's all go back to school and find our bearings again. There is something very attractive about schools, it signifies innocence, friendship and adventure and Mana-Khemia is exactly this, an ideal school life.
After graduating, with your life intact, think about your future, depending on what ending you get in Mana Khemia, you can either end up with a partner, or a rival for life.

Either way,even for the lazier of you, you still need to find something to do after graduating. Put your skills in alchemy into use, and your grandfather is suggesting that you help up with setting up a resort area.

Just work hard this once, As soon as you ace the game, you can marry the prince and laze around for the rest of your life.

Life is hard enough nowawadays, so play something fun and relaxing, with a bit less tension. Things that can be broken apart are already shattered. Start restructuring things through alchemy, at least in the game world.

Mana Khemia is pretty fun. Everything seems to be under a layer of pastel colored gauze, simply speaking, the whole game is innocent and cute. The character design adopted a shojo manga style (i.e. large eyes, small mouth, delicate limbs). It's truely a game suitable for both genders and players of every age.

The game proceeds at a relaxed pace with the first few chapters focusing more on mundane and comedic situations and character growth and the last few chapters on the truth about the main character's birth. While significantly heavier than the first parts, it's hardly ink black.

Wonderful for first time gamers as the fights ease you gently through the system, by the time you finish the game, you would be adequately equipped to deal with battles in other turn based RPG. There are usually no punishment for losing, you won't have your items plundered or money taken away, you will wake up in the infirmary, fully restored, ready for the challenge again.

Since we are talking about alchemists, I decided to tag the newest installment in the atilier games into the post. Still using shojo styled artwork and a storyline that makes you smile, Annie's Atilier is a good place to spend your time, and a stimulus for you to learn Japanese.

The ideal date - Harukanaru Toki no Naka de

"Previously released on the Nintendo DS to celebrate the mother company, Koei's 30th anniversary, Yume no ukihashi is now upgraded and re-released for the television screen on your PlayStation2.

Watch the scenarios between the three generations of Hachiyous, marvel at how the same seiyuus could bring out the difference in the characters and see how the 24 retainers chat with and tease each other in this cross generation party.

The PlayStation2 version comes with more fully voiced scenes, from the small ones such as assisting you to cross the dream bridge and exchanges with each other occasionally. Get to know more about the two divine guards as they get more plot scenarios.

Meet all your 24 retainers as well as other important figures in Harukanaru Toki no Naka de history in this classical romantic adventure."


Figures of the Haruka boys have been released earlier, and its time to see their actions in the game. Designed by shojo manga artist Mizuno Tohko, its no surprise that the game is gearing towards the female markets. In fact the studio which made the game, called Neoromance, already spells out who the game is for.

Mainly a text based dating game, the Harukanaru Toki no Nakade series mixes beautiful stills and animations together with turn based RPG elements and mini games. It creates an environment that pulls in a different sort of gaming community.

Shojo, however, doesn't just mean teenage girls (in some cases, even men are referred to as shojo. But this is another matter). Besides school girls, a lot of housewives and working women are in love with the game as the Neoromance radio program shows.

Letters have been sent to the host of the program, stating how the game fulfilled the ladies' desire for loving words, praises or even romantic poetry, that husbands or boyfriends tend to neglect.

Not everybody can write poems or is able to recite them properly. Even badly written ones require a lot of talent and effort. Creating an atmosphere where reciting poetry is more romantic than hilarious is a lot of work as well.

So ladies (and gentlemen?), stop putting so much pressure on your other half and play the game instead. Gentlemen (and ladies?) if you just happened to be in love, or is in need to impress someone who refuses to compromise, play the game and learn a thing, use it as a tutorial.

Harukanaru Toki no Nakade Yumenoukihashi is available on both Nintend DS and PlayStation2 while the Haruka 2 and the new Haruka 3 Aizoban are available on Sony PSP.

Soldner-X Portable

With PSN games now being released on the Sony PSP system (especially shooters), wouldn't it be great to see Soldner X on the PSP or DS? Sure, the graphics would need to be scaled down a lot (especially on the DS), but the gameplay would be intact. Super Stardust Portable and Everyday Shooter have shown that it can be done successfully.

Features we would like to see in a potential PSP version would be co-op play in the single player campaign. For the DS, I'm sure the touch screen and extra screen could be put to good use. What would you like to see in a portable Soldner X?