Game list.

I thought I’d take a moment to jot down the current games (on all systems that I own) which I’m anticipating the most.

Not all of these are due out in 2007 (I’m looking at you Resident Evil and Final Fantasy), but that’s probably a good thing, as otherwise, my year end gaming would be very crowded.

Pretty much all of these are sequels or spin-offs of one form or the other, but they are all from franchises which I simply adore.

Anyway, here is the list, starting from 10 to 1, ordered as much as I could by the most preferred.

10. Phoenix Wright 3 (DS)
I have really enjoyed the last 2 games and pine for another opportunity to shout “objection” at the DS once more.





9. Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (DS)
An interesting off shoot of FFXII. Not too sure how this will play out on the dual screens of the DS, but we shall see.






8. Final Fantasy Tactics A2 (DS)
Final Fantasy Tactics was my favourite game on the GBA – hopefully this will be just as good.





7. Zelda : Phantom Hourglass (DS)
It’s Zelda – need I say more.






6. GTA 4 (PS3)
Looks promising from the recent trailer. Shame the additional content is exclusive to the X-Box 360, but there should still be plenty in the main game to keep me occupied.




5. Metroid Prime 3 (Wii)
I’m really hoping that Retro nail FPS controls for the Wii for this. This has been delayed to perfect the game, but I’m also hoping that an online multiplayer may be added.





4. Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3)
The previous MGS games have all been fantastic, this however, looks like it will blow them all out of the water. This is the game that will convince many to pick up a PS3.





3. Resident Evil 5 (PS3)
Even if it’s just as good as Resident Evil 4, but in High Definition – then I’ll be a very happy man.




2. Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)
This looks gorgeous. So long as they build on the battle system of FFXII and add the graphical splendour of the PS3, this should be nothing short of brilliant.




1. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
I have recently been replaying Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine with Elliot and boy am I looking forward to a brand spanking new (proper) Mario game.


On a side note, I have just recieved my fre Blu-ray of Casino Royale from Sony - will be watching this at the end of the week. A pretty good freebie considering I had planned on buying it anyway!

Girl and games

Film watched:
Girl Interrupted

Girlie substandard Cuckoos Nest. Redeemed slightly by a hot Angelina.

5.5/10

Games playing:
I’m currently playing Resistance: FOM (PS3), Final Fantasy XII (PS2) and Puzzle Quest. All excellent games.

Resistance I’m mainly playing online at the moment, whilst at times I do get slaughtered, I have on occasion won some free-for-all death match games. I mainly play team death match games, which are less frantic and a require a degree of teamwork.

Final Fantasy XII, it has to be said, is probably the best traditional Final Fantasy games (i.e. not including tactics) since Final Fantasy IX on the Playstation.

Lastly, Puzzle Quest is just so damn addictive. The only problem being that after it I tend to suffer “tetris eyes”, namely I keep on seeing falling coloured crystals.

Prestige, Blu-ray and PS3 BC

Film watched:
The Prestige

Guessed the twists, but still an engrossing well told story.
8/10

Watched my first film on Blu-ray the other night, this being Silent Hill, one of the better game to film adaptations out there. As my plasma can only handle this at a maximum resolution of 1080i via VGA, this was not watched in the full 1080p glory, but was still a good indication all the same.

The verdict? Very good. Noticeably sharper and certainly a jump from DVD, but still not a massive jump. Then again my Philips plasma features Pixel Plus, which enhances normal SD viewing anyway, up scaling this to a higher resolution, so the gap between SD and HD is probably less noticeable. It is still obviously of a higher quality than DVD, but not enough to warrant buying a separate Blu-ray player had I not purchased a PS3.

As such, I will likely buy the occasional Blu-ray disk, but will not be replacing my DVD collection any time soon.

Now I was somewhat harsh about the PS3 backward compatibility in a previous post and whilst this is still warranted, Sony after all have failed to meet their original promise of near 100% compatibility (at least in Europe), there are a few good point about the backwards compatibility which I felt I should mention.

1) All games are displayed at 576p if you have a HD set. This obviously gives a much sharper picture than 576i, which can be good for some games, but bad for games where the graphics are not up to scratch. 480p or 480i is not supported by the European PS3 (strangely), so if you try to play games at this resolution the aspect ratio of the screen is all wrong.

2) PS1 games look surprisingly good at 576p via hdmi.

3) Some games which should not be compatible for the PS1, do in fact work. I have tried my Final Fantasy games and was surprised to find out that they all work.

4) The compatibility of the games is ranked as: no issues, minor issues and noticeable issues. I have now played games with both minor issues and noticeable issues. The most I’ve notices so far are very occasional frame jumps and slightly odd aspect ratios, and some cut scene FMV problems. Nothing really that bad (unless a game is FMV dependant).

So overall, not bad… but could do better. Certainly it is a good thing for the small percentage of people who don’t already own a PS2 or PS1.