Gamertell

I adore Final Fantasy games. It is definitely one of my favorite game franchises and Square Enix is easily one of my favorite developers. I own every game in the series and a few of the remakes and ports as well. (I have three versions of FFVI, and in a few weeks I’ll have three versions of FFIV too.)

But there’s one Final Fantasy game I don’t own and don’t plan on buying - Final Fantasy Tactics A2. It isn’t because I’m an RPG fan who can’t handle strategic RPGs. I have the the PS1 and PSP version of Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and nearly every NIS game released in North America.

Simply put, Square Enix dropped the ball…

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Facebook is home to many addictive, user created applications and games, and Perfect Warrior is one of them. Perfect Warrior is something of a text-based, massive multiplayer online game. Once players sign up, they can battle monsters, join alliances, equip items, strengthen weapons with runes, go on monster hunts and strive to become a legend.

Perfect Warrior requires quite a bit of dedication and time to succeed. Your character has three attributes - strength, constitution and dexterity. Defeating monsters earns you skill points which you can use to strengthen these attributes. The best way to succeed is to plot out what kind of character you want. You may want a strong and aggressive warrior who can take enemies out in one hit. Or perhaps a tank who can take repeated hits without falling is more your style. Of course a lightning fast opponent who can dodge attacks and deal frequent criticals is also a very viable option.

Click through for more information on creating a legend in Perfect Warrior…

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Title: Daigasso! Band Brothers
Price: $48.90
System(s): Nintendo DS
Release Date: December, 1, 2004
Publisher (Developer): Nintendo (Nintendo)
ESRB Rating: N/A. CERO Free (All Ages)
Pros: There’s a great variety of JPop, anime, World, classical and video game music to play. The controls are easy to adapt to. There’s single cart multiplayer for 2-8 people. The song editor is fun. Loads of replay value.
Cons: The sound quality sounds dated, you’ll need a guide to get started for making songs
Overall Score: 8/10

Since Daigasso! Band Brothers DX was recently released in Japan (on June 26, 2008), I figured it would be a good time to take a look back at the original Daigasso! Band Brothers.

The game is a cross between a music simulator and a music game, where people could play music with the face buttons. Pressing the wrong button, or failing to make a note sharp or flat with the shoulder buttons at higher difficulty levels, will cause the wrong note to be played. The goal is to successfully complete a song while keeping time with the beat and pressing correct buttons.

Click through for the full review…

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Virtual Console is really a wonderful opportunity for gamers. Titles that previously may not have enjoyed great success, or perhaps were cult classics, can finally be introduced to a new audience and receive some well deserved respect and attention.

So far the main stars of Virtual Console have been games created by Nintendo and Sega, but there are a wide variety of original, 3rd party Nintendo games begging to be played. 

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Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard gives fans of the original Etrian Odyssey exactly what they want - more. More mapping tools, more character classes, more enemies, more quests, more equipment - you get the idea.

In doing so, some things were also altered. Classes from Etrian Odyssey may not have the same skills or abilities in Etrian Odyssey II, forcing players to rethink parties that may have worked in the previous entry. So after a bit of research and experimentation, Gamertell came up with five potential parties that might be great for exploring the dungeon.

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Now that we’ve looked at the games that have made the Prince of Persia series so popular, it is time to take a look at where the franchise is heading.

Prince of Persia: The Next Generation

As the franchise moves forward, the Prince is set for yet another transformation. After the Sands of Time trilogy came to a close, Ubisoft decided that the series needed a new direction. And while we still don’t know very much about the upcoming Prince of Persia title for…

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Wow! Important Importables falls on the Fourth of July this year! So I figured this week’s column should focus on some fun, Japanese gadgets that you can buy online now, and have in time for the Fourth. You know the kind of things I’m talking about. They’re the items that you look at and go, “That is so cool! Why don’t they have these in (country you live in)?”

But these aren’t just any gadgets or toys. These are things that are perfect for enhancing your summer experience. Every summer has a few days where you’re absolutely stumped as to what to do. While the items I suggest might not totally revitalize your day, at the very least they’ll be a cool discussion starter. 

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Last time we took a look at the original trilogy of Prince of Persia games, and now we move onto the era of Ubisoft. The French developer took the franchise in a new direction, while maintaining the original feel the series was known for.

The Sands of Time

Despite the mainly negative reaction to the first 3D Prince of Persia, when publishing giant Ubisoft picked up the rights to the franchise it decided to…

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It isn’t uncommon for one or two big titles to be released on the same day or within a few days of each other, (Example: Grand Theft Auto IV and Mario Kart Wii.) but more often than not, publishers will avoid this and scatter dates so their games will get the attention they deserve. Apparently the Japanese DS game publishers wanted to cause a free-for-all June 26, 2008, because five highly anticipated games are being released at once. Six, if you’re excited about Simple DS Series Vol. 39 The Shouboutai (Fire Fighters).

So let’s go over Bleach: The 3rd Phantom, Bokura no Telebi Game Kentei, Daigasso! Band Brothers DX, Jigsaw World and Disgaea DS, the five major titles being released in Japan…

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I contacted Visteon to get an update on its Dockable Entertaiment device with a built-in Game Boy Advance system.

To my pleasant surprise, not only did they confirm that the GBA version of the system is still available to be installed in vehicles but that the company is also looking into a DS and/or Wii version. Here’s the official response from a Visteon Corporate Communications representative…

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