Since the last entry, I…

*Finished “Trauma Center: New Blood” in absurd fashion. I reached the final surgery and failed at it multiple times. I decided the game was too hard. I put the game on my game shelf, resigned that it would join “Final Fantasy X” and “Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door” as games that contain final encounters that I couldn’t overcome. A day later, I couldn’t deal with leaving the game unfinished, so I took it back off the shelf, consulted GameFAQs to deduce a better strategy. And I beat it.

Read more…

Since the last entry, I…

*Saved a dog from a gunshot wound in “Trauma Center: New Blood.” Am I the only one who uses GameFAQs to find out how much longer a game is going to last? I don’t go there for tips much these days. But I do go there to find out how much longer the games I’m playing are going to be. One more chapter for “Trauma Center.”

*Played more “Secret Agent Clank.”

*Played a still-in-development version of the DS game “Lock’s Quest,” a character-driven tower defense game from the makers of “Drawn To Life.” It made a good first impression. I’ll have more to say about it next week.

Next: This weekend will involve the playing of “LEGO Indiana Jones.” Somehow. Some way.

Since the last entry, I…

*Removed shotgun shells from a man’s soldier, as seen in “Trauma Center: New Blood.” Are “Metroid Prime 3” and “Super Mario Galaxy” the games that best utilized the nunchuk-remote Wii combo? I’m tempted to cast my vote for “Trauma Center.”

*Played a section of “Secret Agent Clank” that reminded me of “Psychonauts.” That’s a very good thing.

Next: I hope to complete the final operation.

Since the last entry, I…

*Played a ridiculous amount of games.

*At Friday’s PlayStation event alone I played “Resistance 2,” “Killzone 2,” “Little Big Planet,” “SOCOM: Confrontation,” “Linger In Shadows,” “PixelJunk Eden,” “MotorStorm: Pacific Rim,” “Siren: Blood Curse,” and “Buzz” for PS3 and PSP. I’ll write blog posts about many of those games throughout the week, but I should record here that two games brought me back for a second-helping: “Linger” and “Eden.” The first one because I wanted to understand it more. The second because it’s the most fun I had with a co-op game this year.

*Also played some “Secret Agent Clank” on the flight home.

Then, over the weekend, I binged. Scary details follow…

Read more…

I was at the doctor’s office yesterday morning with my boyfriend, who had a septoplasty earlier this week.

What does that have to do with video games?

The doctor who performed my boyfriend’s nasal procedure, had mentioned during a previous visit that he had played the Wii at his cousin’s house over Christmas. This reminded me of the study that reported that surgeons who played the Wii before a virtual training test performed better than those who didn’t.

But that study had only eight surgical residents participating, so I decided to ask Dr. Nilesh Patel what he thought. “I think there’s probably some truth to that [study],” Patel told me after he removed plastic splints from my boyfriend’s nose. “Not just the Wii but any video game where it probably develops good hand-eye coordination. So, to that extent, it probably helps people.”

Read more…

For Capcom, publishing a game on the scale of “Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney” is an exception. They are a company of blockbuster, mass-appeal hits.

Atlus, on the other hand, isn’t. Catering to a niche demographic interested in very Japanese, very hardcore RPGs, Atlus is candidly aware of their smaller appeal.

They’re okay with that, but it isn’t without drawbacks. Fans often complain how difficult it is to find their products even at launch. “There’s no malice in it,” said Atlus public relations lead Aram Jabbari to Multiplayer. “I wish we could produce to demand.”

Sometimes Atlus just doesn’t know when a title is going to go outside their internal expectations. With last fall’s “Odin Sphere,” the publisher stuck to their traditionally conservative estimates when finalizing production orders for the game’s launch, when the title was suddenly hit with an enormous amount critical acclaim and fan attention.

As a result, demand outstripped supply, and retailers didn’t have enough copies of “Odin Sphere” to truly satisfy everyone at launch.

Atlus admits they didn’t realize the game’s potential (sounds familiar to Capcom’s reaction to “Dead Rising”), but Jabbari is quick to point out that when you’re dealing with a publisher as small as Atlus, every dollar counts.

Read more…