2 Arcades in 2 Days

Yesterday was another trip to Super Arcade at Walnut to play more Tekken 6. I finally took the plunge to buy a card to use for my Bryan to become "official." After getting my first wins, I'm still having a great time playing T6 among the competitive field (tournament-level still) even though yesterday afternoon was a little quiet than normal probably because it was a Friday. Now my T6 card is my personal gamerpic on 360 (SSBB is getting old now and T6 is still the hotness).

Other than playing the usual (T6 and MvC2), I won't mind mentioning the other hot stuff at Super Arcade, mainly the racers such as Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3 and Initial D Ver.4. Max. Tune 3 is obviously the popular choice among the crowd since I see more people playing it (especially it is 4 machines compared to 2 for Initial D). I always respected this series of games every time I see them, but I'm not willing to commit to spend countless money building up a car and beating the long campaign modes. Maximum Tune 3 is still your same game with more tracks, cars, and BGM. The graphics have improved, but not that much (same thing can be said for Initial D Ver. 4 as well). The card system is still there and addicting for the fans of the series building up a car to face off against others. The same modes are there with the long campaign (80 chapters), time attack, and outrun. The major element of WMMT3 and the series that sells to me is the amazing electronica/techno soundtrack composed by my favorite game music composer, Yuzo Koshiro (he did the music for the Streets of Rage series and some songs for Smash Bros. Brawl). That music is just amazing to listen to while driving in-game or not.

Sure, you might be wandering, why not put Maximum Tune 3 and Initial D Ver. 4 on consoles? I think they are out on PS3 at Japan and exclusive to it since I don't see Microsoft going to crazy to acquire these games on 360. Plus, those series of racing games are meant for arcades rather than consoles because of the addictive card system and playing it generally with a wheel on manual transmission. Usually, those console ports never make it to the United States because of the "dead" arcade audience here, but some local arcades are willing to pony up for JP machines of these games (Well, WMMT3 at Super is in English as well as Initial D 4 I think).

If you're wandering what is all the fuss about Maximum Tune 3, check these videos out.

Tonight was a little different story going to GameWorks at Ontario Mills. Obviously, GameWorks is the mainstream place for arcades these days being to closest reminder of the 80s and 90s glory days. The game selection is obviously old versions of games like Maximum Tune 2 and Initial D Ver. 3 even though if u might find some rare stuff there like Samurai Showdown 5 (no one plays it) and After Burner Climax. Of course, there are the gun-con type shooters like House of the Dead 4 (Time Crisis 4 is at Super), and other random games like Mario Kart Arcade GP and Outrun 2 SP. I only played MvC2 there tonight (Marvel vs. Capcom 2) and your playing experiences may vary pending on machine and sticks. The sticks at the GameWorks cabinet are too small compared to the ones at Cal Poly (my preference of choice to play MvC2) and the ones at Super. In addition, these type of places are rare for competition compared to every day at Cal Poly and Super, since GameWorks is just meant for a good time killing some money using paying cards. Sure, GameWorks has its place in the arcade business especially in today's world, but the few and rare local arcades as well as Sunnyvale, CA is the place to be if you want to play the latest games from Japan that you will never see a release on console because of the experience they provide.

That's it for 2 Arcades in 2 Days - They're still around here at California and currently my place to be since the console world these days, other than SSBB, are waiting for Grand Theft Auto IV (I pre-ordered Mario Kart Wii and Ninja Gaiden 2 tonight as well) to come out and ruin people's lives.

UPDATE - Here's an example of Tekken 6 being awesome in this match clip (thanks to SDTekken's MarkMan) featuring Lei and Law. Don't worry about the YouTube compression of these clips, the game looks pretty good when seen in person.

Mr. Driller Screwed Again.... A Mr. Driller Online Review

Namco's Mr. Driller series has found success at Japan, but none of that was found in the United States. It is basically a spin-off of the old-school classic Dig Dug starring Mr. Driller and he simply drills to the ground. Usually, importers had to import the best games the series provided that were never officially released in the U.S. such as Drill Land for the GameCube. Mr. Driller Online is the latest offering for the series now for Xbox Live Arcade, but the "online" as mentioned in the title is pretty much broken and unplayable. The single-player and the music are its only saving grace for being a total complete abomination. It is certainly one of the most disappointing releases on XBLA for 800 Microsoft Points (ten dollars) and it is a shame since Namco Bandai had the opportunity to bring Mr. Driller to more casual audience and those who never played it till now like me, but the effort seems rushed and unfinished at its released state.

The gameplay for Mr. Driller Online is simple: Drill blocks to the ground without running of oxygen or being squished by a block. All you need are the left stick (or d-pad) and the A button even though the Y and B buttons are used for other purposes specifically for multiplayer. There are 2 types of five stages for the single player, split to Standard and Quest. Standard Driller is your classic Driller game, but Quest adds some stipulations to the normal action such as completing 100 meters within the time limit, using limited air capsules, and not dying. Quite simply, the two single-player modes don't differentiate too much from each other despite different background settings and music. The goal for Mr. Driller, for those who never played it yet, is to reach a certain number of meters by drilling. The addiction of these games are the sense of challenge, skill, speed, and luck because this game is not a walk in the park pending on your play style. You're always on the clock of getting as far down as possible with limited air and falling blocks, which adds the intensity of survival into play. It basically follows the famous quote, "Easy to learn, but hard to master."

Other than the single player modes, there is the multiplayer and this is when everything falls apart for Mr. Driller Online. First of all, there is no local multiplayer and it was falsely advertised on the game description when buying this game. Secondly and the game's ultimate flaw is that the online play is flat out broken and unplayable unless you are hosting a game. Mostly all online matches go by a host playing the game normally while other players are struggling to even drill the first block. This is not Xbox Live's problem, but Namco's problem as a whole as if they didn't even stress test the network code for this game (this is in fact Namco Bandai's first XBLA game with online play compared to their previous efforts on the service like Pac-Man Championship Edition). Usually at this point when you cannot even drill the first block in an online match, you might as well quit the match and pray for a patch to fix this issue. The match options are solo and tag team battles either ranked or not and there are achievements towards winning streaks, but with the busted network code, its pretty much pointless to try going for them.

The overall presentation for Mr. Driller Online is pretty much bare bones, but this is expected for a Namco Bandai game on Xbox Live Arcade. The menus are simple looking with cool art and the graphics themselves seem unchanged from previous games. Let's just say that the game does not look HD enough, but instead feels like a lazy port. The music, on the other hand, is actually the best part of this game as some songs are from Drill Land, which had the best soundtrack for the series. The sound effects are also unchanged from the series, but also a little annoying since you are drilling blocks.

Mr. Driller Online could have been another old-school hit to enjoy for Xbox Live Arcade like most of the retro re-releases, but the lazy port job Namco has done along with the busted network code is downright disappointing. Then again, this game was announced nearly a month ago, so there is another possible reason it seems rushed to come out. Did the online issues ever happened on debug units compared to retail units? We may not know, but quite simply when you have the word online on the title and it is broken, then that is a huge problem. Other than the obvious support of achievements, most of them are challenging for those who want easy points, and leaderboards, Mr. Driller Online is simply not worth your time at this state it was released.

Final Score 4 /10 

WipEout HD is freaking amazing!!

Okay, I never played the WipeOut games ever since I was into F-Zero X at that time. Now, WipeOut HD, other than MGS4 and Tekken 6 are my reasons for me to buy a PS3. This game just looks and plays amazing (this is what WipeOut was meant to be). I remember having a similar excitement for Rez HD since I never played Rez before its XBLA release. Now Rez HD is my favorite game of the year so far and I'm pretty sure WipeOut HD might give it a run for its money (Yeah, Smash Bros. Brawl is not my GOTY so far - Read my Rez HD player review at GameSpot for more). This is my type of racing game: futuristic, amazing sense of speed, amazing graphics, awesome music, and great combat. Sure, the Burnout games are my current high point for racing games, but F-Zero GX and now WipeOut HD, might be my new favorite racing game ever. For video proof why WipeOut HD will be awesome, check out this segment from today's 1UP Show.

Clip of the Night (4/3/08) Guitar Hero Nutshot!!

I just saw this on G4's Attack of the Show and this clip is hilarious. Good thing I don't play Guitar Hero and Rock Band standing up.

Bonus Music Video of the Day - Madonna's 4 Minutes

Alright, just found a lucky link of this one since Warner Bros. Records has been on a tight leash taking out this music video off YouTube since it is out on the iTunes Music Store to buy. This is Madonna's 4 Minutes to Save the World featuring Justin Timberlake and Timbaland off her new album, Hard Candy, out at the end of the month. As expected, Timbo delivers another banger for the world to listen to. This video is not the greatest quality, but be glad its here for now.

Music Video of the Day (4/03/08) - Linkin Park's Given Up

I didn't even know there was a video for this song till now, so yeah. Actually, it is one of the better songs off Minutes of Midnight, so at least the guys did a video for it. Sure, it wasn't the best album they had put out (Hybrid Theory is still the best from them), but I'm not afraid to say Linkin Park is one of my favorite mainstream bands to listen to. I'm still waiting for this band to get supported for Rock Band like Hybrid Theory as an album download (except Cure for the Itch) unlike Guitar Hero III with No More Sorrow. Then again, you will get your obvious complaints from various forums about how wasted of an effort for the developers to put some songs up for download (I'm still waiting for Nirvana's Nevermind on Rock Band anyway).

Sonic Unleashed....Again

Looks like Sega is ready to pull the trigger this time officially announcing Sonic Unleashed for later this year. Of course, there's still doubts among Sonic fans that this game will suck like most of the 3D games, but it still seems promising at best for now. Here's the 1up news story as well as the "official" trailer for the game (a little similar to the leaked video I posted last month).