PixlBit

Ahem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeqSdnB6X8k

Somehow, I don't own Onimusha 1 and 2 anymore. I need to correct this soon, as I doubt they will ever get an HD upgrade due to the pre-rendered backgrounds.

Musashi gets hate? I thought it was fine. Nothing mind-blowing, but fun. 

The sequel, however, deserves hatred.

Sweet!

I miss the days when a demo for a new FF game was a huge deal. How many people (myself included) bought Tobal No. 1 and popped in the demo for VII before doing anything else?

As someone who has been to VG Live twice and Distant Worlds once, I can say without reservation that you should pull the trigger on this if you can.

I would buy the song for my iPhone if they had it. Sometimes I fire this game up just to hear it.

I love it when companies with long histories integrate said history into their newer games. The MLF patch on the zombie player is a really nice touch.

If memory serves, Turmell was there for the making of NBA Jam as well, and that turned out fantastic.

Really looking forward to this one, even if I keep forgetting the name. You know, because Amy has so many letters in it.

Still, it astounds me how reactionary the retail market is in Japan. Granted, that may be because the software doesn't seem to have a standard price point, with big titles like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy going for much higher prices at launch than other games, but it's definitely a weird market.

The problem isn't with reviews. Or to be more accurate, there wouldn't be an issue with reviews if we didn't have these protracted preview times. Sadly, it's just part of this "need it now, 24 hour news, bombard me with information" society the internet has created. In the golden days of video game magazines, you'd get a preview of a game in the October issue, and the review in the November issue.

Now, we get months, if not years, of buildup to a game. We see a million screen shots, trailers, and even full gameplay demos online. Hardcore gamers, and by that I mean people who follow the games industry closely, already know what they think about a game long before it gets released. So when a review comes along that doesn't justify the game that they pre-ordered 9 months ago, they rage.

For my part, reviews are still very important to me. I am an educated gamer and know what I like, so rarely do the reviews lead me to a game I wasn't already going to purchase. But I like to know what people I respect have to say about them, and that's where I think the future of reviews is--with the personalities that write about them. If you're a fresh face, I'm likely not going to care much about what you wrote. But as I read more of your writing and get to know your tastes and personality, you may become a person I seek out for criticism. I may not care about "x" game, but if Jeremy Parish is reviewing it, I'm going to read it. Similarly, if Jesse reviews a game for PixlBit, I'm going to jump on that review right away. Not to take anything away from the rest of our staff. I've just had more time to get to know Jesse as a writer and respect his opinions.

Hopefully, we will continue to let our readers get to know us, and thereby create an environment where they seek out our reviews. Not because it will validate their opinions, but because they want to know what we think.