BlazBlue = "Guilty Gear" for the new generation

Over at Japan, there was a location test for Arc System Works' newest fighter, BlazBlue. Simply, this is what I call Guilty Gear for the new generation. It looks like Guilty Gear, but in HD, as well as a whole new set of characters that are influenced by Sammy's famed fighting series. It also plays like it too which is great for the hardcore fighting crowd that loves the complexity and the style of Guilty Gear. I had little experience with the Guilty Gear games with XX Reload on Xbox being online and 20 bucks when it came out. I rather just watch good people play it at my school (We have Accent Core currently) or tournaments. I thought about buying Accent Core randomly for the Wii, but I'll took the pass. BlazBlue looks it will still have the same learning curve as Guilty Gear which is fine by me as noobs and mashers won't get away pulling off crazy moves from the get go. I won't mind getting into this one if this ever come out stateside for a bit or on PS3 soon. There are some rumors circulating about Guilty Gear X3, but I'll wait till it is officially true especially with GG2 Overture finally coming out to the States in a month or two being overpriced (I won't mind 40 bucks, but 60 is pushing it). BlazBlue is just another reason that fighting games are coming back to take over (especially for the hardcore crowd).

Off-topic - Expect my Mario Kart Wii review likely tomorrow and I'm 51% done with GTA4, so expect another installment of A Day in the Life at Liberty City sometime this week as well.

Banjo-Kazooie 3 or Banjo Threeie?? (First pics)

As Microsoft's "Pre-E3" press event is sometime this week I think, the details are slowly leaking out about what would be there. Gears of War 2 is a guarantee after seeing the new footage, but one of the most curious games people awaiting to see is the long awaited Banjo-Kazooie 3 or Banjo-Threeie (Rare hasn't confirmed a title yet). The first pics were leaked from some European magazine and discussed in this NeoGAF thread and it is a start from what I'm seeing. I was a fan of the first Banjo-Kazooie beating it 100% on the N64 and it was a pretty good platformer that sticked to conventions that Mario 64 started while adding some new stuff like Kazooie's actions of flying and shooting. I skipped Banjo-Tooie at the time because it was late in the N64 generation, but I have high hopes for this one if it brings back what was great about the first one spicing it up for this generation. Then again, if this one is coming out in the wrong time of the holiday season (Gears 2 obviously), then I going to take a pass. Maybe Super Mario Galaxy has raised the bar for platformers too much and Banjo 3 needs to set some new standards for the genre if it still wants to be relevant for gaming.