First Gear...

Well I'm there, battling my way slowly and somewhat tentatively through the locust horde... I'm still a tad crap at the controls but I seem to be getting to grips with it... I also get very phased by the amount of hostile fire!

Still very early days yet, but I'm loving what I've seen so far. It's clear to see why this game has been treated a the stuff of legend... Reason on it's own to buy a 360 over a PS3 maybe... Now if only I was more of a bad ass, things would be good... LOL! :)

Danniel Merriweather and Mark Ronson

Cor blimey!

They've won Brits together! What the hell does that mean? But please listen... It's just great...

Jennifer Hudson

Damn fine! Erm... performer! I would. Buy her records that is. *Cough!*

Not much more to say really...

Full Of Eastern Promise... Okami

Having finished the amazing God Of war II, I was left with a gaping whole in my gaming life...


What would fill it? Umbrella Chronicles? Erm... nope! Gears Of War? Well... If I'm honest, I found the tutorial on casual mode a tad overpowering... (*FK blushes at his own gaming ineptitude...*)





Still, I had managed to secure Okami for a mere £10 ($20) the other day, and my good friend Nebacha had assured me of it's merits so I thought "what the heck?" and decided to give it a go...



An epic Japanese tale of a land laid destitute by evil monsters, your mission is to restore ancient Nippon to it's verdant spleandour by heroic and beatific acts, using your ...erm magic paint brush... You play as a mystic white wolf, guided by a little bug type creature... In a land populated by drunken warriors, evil spirits, myopic washer women and stumbling postmen...





Now if all this sounds a litle bizarre, that's because it is... Surreal if you will. What I knew of Okami was that it was a visually stunning game, with cell shaded graphics, drawn in the style of traditional Japanese paintings. Paintings that have come to life...


What I wasn't expecting was the cheesey humour, the cartoon like characters or the Zelda style tasks of treasure hunting, weapon collecting, potion gathering, container breaking or spell casting... And it's none the worse for any of that!

The babbling none-language of the protagonists (sounding like a Japanese "Morph") was a little off putting at first, as was the seemingly never ending opening sequence, but the more I play it, the more charmed I am, and increasingly drawn in to boot!

Now I'll throw in a couple of pics, a handful of links and a bit of video so you can make sense of this rambling nonsense, but it's clear to see why this game has earned a place in the prestigious Games TM magazine's prestigious top ten PS2 games of all time...

Now, like many great games of the past, despite being critically acclaimed, was a commercial failure. Perhaps too off beat and unusual for Western gamers, the franchise is being resurrected for another chance to wow the gaming public, this time on the Wii.



It's clear to see how the Wiimote could make an excellent controller for the magic paint brush and by waving it around, one could either hack and slash enemies or with a majestic sweep of the wrist, bring life back to a scorched an arrid, demonic wasteland...


Who knows? If done well (like RE4 Wii Edition) this could be within the top ten Wii games by next year... I hope so, as the game needs to be shared with a wider audience! Here's the links, check 'em out and enjoy!!



Okami Official Website


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ÅŒkami


Okami IGN

Won't The Real Father K Please Stand Up? Please Stand Up? Please Stand Up etc...

I'd always resisted putting any pics of myself out there... (it aint too pretty to look at!) But the time has come to reveal myself to the world... So here goes! Yes folks, that's your good Father sitting in an original Sega Rally machine (one of the many classic arcade games at my caravan site in Wales...)

So there you go! You may wonder why I'm wearing shades indoors... It was to make myself more pimplicious in the photo! (The same as BJ I guess!) Now, why don't I take this opportunity to post some pics of my look-a-likes? Here goes! And I know! Some of these pics require a huge dose of salt and a stretch of the imagination... But some are pretty close! Enjoy!!!

In Praise Of Blonde Jon...

He's been here for quite a while these days, and I'm just glad to give him props! Whether it's good gaming advice, or just the fact that I love hearing his opinion on my musical endeavours... Let's big up BJ!!! :)

Nuff said!

Slaine/ La Coka Nostra

Looks like Everlast, Danny Boy and Lethal (House Of Pain) are back, this time as Rap Collective La Coka Nostra. Taking on board the very talented Ill Bill from Non Phixion, and also portly rapper Slaine, the group have an album out soon and I like what I'm hearing! I think there's even a glimpse of Everlast in the video...

Despite loving the tune and the lyrics, the B Boy posturing looks a little forced and I 'm sensing that Slaine didn't really get it on with the 'ladies' in the video. All in all though, pretty good!

I'm getting a bit long in the tooth for all the gun imagery though. Whilst I understand that this is part of an image inherent in rap (no more the cause of gun culture than videogames or films like Scarface), I literally loathe guns and the glamour that they seem to have to the youths in my neighbourhood...

Two more kids were shot a couple of weeks ago here. At first they were seen as innocent victims, but I've heard a whisper that they were playing the same game. Senseless....

House Of Pain

I love these guys, and it proved back in the day that even white boys can hold their heads up in my favourite musical genre...

House of Pain - Jump Around
Uploaded by crunk_ship

The Second Best Game, Ever...

High praise indeed? Well yeah, definitely! It's just that God Of War II has got me so stoked at the moment. I'm playing it on easy mode (of course) but it just ticks all the boxes. The gameplay just flows, there's a very forgiving save system and the cutscenes are simply glorious. It's wiped out all of my Resident Evil obsession that I carried throughout most of 2007...

Voice acting and characterisation are fabulous, the whole mythos of the title sublime... It doesn't get any better than this! My gaming set up at the moment helps... Dreamcast, 360 and Wii in the back (most inhabited) living room, Dreamcast, Saturn and PS2 in the front (less inhabited) living room. That means the potential to game on some console or other, whatever Mrs. K is doing... But I have to say, she's remarkably chilled about gaming these days...

Now I know I said it was going to be Gears Of War and Umbrella Chronicles next, but it just might just be God Of War I...

I played about 10 minutes of UC at the weekend and it really wasn't fun!!! In fact I'm hating on that game right now, I really, REALLY, can't be arsed with it...

It's just too bloody hard, and doesn't have the appeal to keep me going... I know!!! I went on and on about it! It promised to be my defining game... And you know what? Now I want to trade it in with Sonic (the 360 version) and Viva Pinata which was bought for Ted, (but totally eclipsed for him by World Of Warcraft. I reckon that little trade in could get me Ghost Squad, (which I really want -notice I didn't say NiGHTS?)

So there you go... Not much of an update really, nothing to report... I'l let you know how my trade in goes... But right now it's all about God Of War II!

(and yes Funnyman I know you can have sex in it, but that hasn't been it's main selling point!!!)

God Of War II Official Website

One For NebachadnezzaR...

Like my good friend Nebacha, I occasionally like a good helping of Heavy Metal. Here's a brilliant, but often overlooked classic of the genre! For some reason it's in Swedish, but power chords are an inernational language! Enjoy! (Edit!) A very happy birthday Nuno! Christ I wish I was 19 again... PS I've now put the English version up, so forget all that stuff about Swedish...

Shameless Neglect...

Dear, oh dear, oh dear... February has entered it's sixth day (just about) and I've not even updated this blog. if I can offer the usual tired old excuses... It's hard to get Ted off the computer (World Of Warcraft addict...), I've been gaming a lot (about which more in a moment), work's a bitch (it is) and The Saturn Junkyard has been hogging all my attention... (true..)

But really, that's no excuse for neglecting my own personal page, and leaving you kind people with no updates, so I need to fill you in on my January gaming, and tell you what's about to be played in February... January has been an epic month really. Starting off with the first title I ever experienced on the 360, Bioshock, I got a nice flavour of the power of the beast and a glorious taste of an intelligent and truly thought provoking shooter.

What did I do next? Did I catch up on all the fuss about Halo 3? Did I dip my toe into the water of Gears Of War? Did I join my two elder sons in their rampant enthusiasm about online death matches in Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare? NO!

I played Shenmue II... Again... For about the fifth time!!! OK, so it was slightly current gen - ish... I did play on the 360, although the game was an XBox port from the Dreamcast. It took the best part of January, while I had Gears Of War, COD4:MW and Umbrella Chronicles, not being played under the telly. Did this make sense?

Hell yeah! Maybe playing my very favourite game of the last gen, was my of saying goodbye to that era, or maybe (more likely) it was me confirming to myself, how relevent the 'last gen' still is. For those of you who don't know about Shenmue (please enjoy the video above...) it's sumptuous graphics, a great story and a stunning fight based RPG... Please check out the links below...

The story remains cruelly unfinished, as the game never reaped the financial payback that Sega had laid out in it's production and fans (especially me) are desparate for the third installment...
Will this ever come? We can only hope...

As the credits rolled at the end of the game, i wonderd what I should play next and I decided to stick with the 'last gen', this time with God Of War 2, on the PS2, which I had started back in October, but never finished. This Spartan based epic of Greek Mythology concerning fallen God Kratos, stands up against any of it's current gen nephews and is simply gaming heaven... I'm well into it now and loving every blood soaked second of it! (And yes Funnyman, I did like the sexy bits! LOL!)

As soon as that is finished, I intend to take on both Gears Of War and Umbrella Chronicles, simultaneously, in alternate sessions, until both are complete. I'm not allowing myself to buy any full price titles until these two games are completed. That means no Ghost Squad, NiGHTS, No More Heroes or Sega Superstars Tennis for the Wii (all of which I most desparately want.) No Virtua Fighter 5, Soul Calibur 4 or Orange Box for the 360 (all of which I most desparately want).

Oh and I forgot, I just bought the Nebachadnezzar recommended Okami which needs a play, so it looks like I'll be busy before any new major titles pass through the door to Krishna Towers.
2008 demands a good gaming backlog clearance (far too many titles to mention) before I embark on anything else... Discipline is required... Am I up to the job? Only time will tell!

Now here's the links!

Bioshock
Shenmue Dojo
Shenmue 2
God Of War 2