If you have a PS2, do yourself a favor: go out and buy Okami now.

Alongside school and my escapades in SL, much of my time these days has been devoted to my PS2. And considering all the great deals I've scored lately, I'm beginning to think that the end of a console's lifespan is the time to buy. For example, I really liked Guitar Hero. I wanted to buy it, but at a pricetag of $70, it just wan't going to happen. Luckily, this week dealnews posted a link to a deal on Guitar Hero, and I managed to order it for just over $50 shipped via Frys.com, which is cheaper than the current going price on eBay. I also recently nabbed a new title, DDR SuperNova for $30 at the brick-and-mortar Fry's (and managed to nab the last copy).

But the one title I did shell out full price for (granted, it was released at a discounted MSRP of $40), was the now defunct Clover Studio's Okami. Okami follows the journey of the Shinto sun goddess Amaterasu who has taken the form of a wolf to save the world from the darkness unleashed by Orochi an evil eight-headed serpent. This heavy-handed story, based heavily on Japanese folklore, is played out by 'Ammy' (as she is affectionately dubbed) in wolf form, (involuntarily) accompanied by Issun, the Wandering Artist - a bug (think Link's Navi). There are in fact a number of parallels between Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker on GameCube and Okami - the gameplay mechanics, most noticeably, but Okami distinguishes itself from Zelda in several ways:

The visuals are absolutely stunning. I was hesitant to buy into the hype about this game's watercolor aesthetic, but it works to a degree that has to be seen to be believed. Transitions to cut scenes are pretty much inconceivable, and everything in the environment is in constant motion. Environments consist of a blend of 3D elements with the occasional 2D sprite (like trees) which pivot with the camera in a way not dissimilar to Paper Mario, as ink shimmers across each and every object. Words simply don't do the effect justice. As you run and pick up speed, the colors and words begin to bleed, giving the sensation of speed. Meanwhile, the music is, simply put, perfect. In fact, I've got the 5-disc soundtrack on my iPod right now.

The story and dialogue is very good, and effectively balances the serious undertone with good humor. Little things like Mr. Orange performing a traditional ritualistic dance that looks curiously like breakdancing, conversations and graphics with thinly-veiled sexual connotations, and the often snarky (occasionally fourth-wall breaking) remarks of Issun and the like amuse without defacing the story.

Ametarsu is a quadruped, and she controls like one. There's a weight in her steps which is noticeably different from the precision usually afforded by characters like Link that is different. Attacks and combos are executed easily, and the celestial brush system generally works very well, as is nowhere near as cumbersome as one might imagine. Puzzles and side-quests are generally intuitive, and the attack system works well - the key is simply to determine the best order of execution of melee and brush strokes in attacking enemies. (And you even get dedicated buttons for digging and barking.) The game seems to be a bit on the easy side thus far, but that hasn't really bothered me.

So far, I've put a little over 14 hours into it and actually had the impression that I'd finished it (and consequently, was rather satisfied), though it seems now that that's hardly the case...

But don't take my word for it: Okami has not received a score from the press lower than 9/10. Put succinctly, if you have a PS2, you need Okami.

---

Over the Hedge is the big DVD release this week (Tuesday). Strangely, none of the circulars in Sacramento are listing prices for it, though the DVD File forums reports that Target is bundling it with a "Target exclusive bonus full-length music CD" (god knows what that would entail) for $23, ($16 sans-CD), Best Buy with a comic strip collection for $17, and Circuity City with a DK book (remember those?) for $15. I liked this film a lot (see: avatar), so I'll probably end up at Best Buy (if turns out to be an actual comic book as advertised in the circular) in lieu of going to see, oh say, Open Season...

I made it home at about 11:45 tonight, dead-tired after driving home from a friend's house, and quickly looked up the going bids for Gitaroo Man on eBay, thinking that I would be able to pick up a couple extra bucks for my investment in this rare title, procured earlier in the day at Fry's.

Unfortunately, I discovered it was no longer going for unreasonable prices on eBay (probably as a result of a recent reprint which permitted me to find the game on the shelves in the first place), so instead, I opted to pop it into the PS2 and give it a whirl.

At about 1:40, after clearing three levels and downing a bottle of Gatorade, I've decided to give it a rest. This game is impossibly difficult, insanely frustrating... and absolutely addictive.

Jak 3 is a really well-made game. In my case, there's been a lot of, shall we say, trial by fire, and I've had to resist the urge to fling the controller at the TV in frustration when I miss the long jump roll... for the 20th time... or I find myself in a room full of sentries that kill on contact. But there's still a big draw to it and the pacing is such that you don't really want to put it down. The fact that it runs on the 61" TV in 16x9 480p without a hitch is just icing on the cake. (Though I've found that turning on 'GAME MODE" on the television is essential; it cuts down on some of the latency caused by the ongoing video up-conversion and makes those long jumps just a bit more perilous.)

I've also cracked open the case on Dragon Quest VIII. The voice cast is great, the graphics are gorgeous for a cel-shaded title, and the score is entirely ORCHESTRAL! No MIDI soundtrack! Woah! In fact, the back of the box lists the credit: 'Music: Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra'. Now that's crazy good. This one looks like it's going to take a lot of time to plow through though, so it's staying on the backburner for the time being.

I've yet to remove the shrinkwrap from Ratchet & Clank.

On an unrelated tangent, did you know Ligers actually exist?

I managed to pop in Jak 3 and play for about 20 minutes today on my parent's mammoth of an HDTV set. Earlier in the month, I went down and like a sucker, forked over the cash for the Sony Component cables so that I could see what 480p gaming looked like, but none of the games I owned supported 16x9 or progressive scan. Fortunately, two of the titles I picked up over the weekend (Ratchet and Jak) both support progressive, so I was looking forward to seeing what marginal graphic improvement there was to be seen. And I must say, I can't quantify how much a role 480p played in swaying my disposition, but Jak 3 is really quite slick. It was running in widescreen at what had to be 60fps, and contained the most animated, fluid-looking characters I've seen in a game - ever. The opening in-engine cinematic in particular was really fast and looked more vivid than some CG animation (short films) I've seen. And the it's got great sense of humor too... I repeatedly died in the first challenge arena, and after the 3rd or 4th death, Daxter (the "annoying sidekick", pictured right) unexpectedly took over the screen and in disgust shouted something to the effect of "Okay, that's it! Call the director, I want out!" Said taunt turned out to be a surprisingly effective motivator, too.... I definitely look forward to getting down and sinking my teeth into this one.

I'm attempting to redesign the personal website again, this time from scratch. I sketched out the layout last night and re-created it with some tweaks in Photoshop, but I'm still a little iffy about the cohesiveness of the design. At the very minimum, I plan to relaunch it without the straight-up feed reprinted from this LiveJournal; I just put on a new paint of coat to reflect my latest obsession and there isn't a compelling reason to have two copies of the blog/journal anyway.

I went ahead and joined YourMusic.com, part of the infamous BMG Music Club (you know, get 12 CDs FREE) which seems very much like Netflix in that you fill a queue of albums (published by one of the Sony BMG labels, of course...) and every month you get the next CD in your queue for $6 with no shipping costs and no contractual obligation (and no mailing of 'suggested' CDs that you have to return in order to avoid getting billed for). It seems like a pretty good deal, and I made sure to read the fine print and cancellation terms and it looks pretty legit. So I'm looking forward to getting the first album in my queue, Rockin' the Suburbs. (I've convinced myself that the Hedge soundtrack is the best CD I've purchased in years, which is also indicative of how stale my music collection has grown... [On a sidenote, it's only $8 on iTunes with an exclusive track that I didn't get, which really is a steal.])

This is the last post I'll make about the film for a while, but if you enjoyed Over the Hedge at all, you really ought to check out the Behind the Scenes subsection of the official website. (And skip the rest - it's fluff for the kiddies.) They have some amusing video interviews with the entire cast, and what I personally found more interesting, a good number of images of the hand-drawn storyboards and conceptual art used in the making of the film. This isn't something I normally get excited about, but there was really some quality work done here in the pre-production stage. And there's even a bit of insight into the adaptation of the film from it's comic origins, as well a bit of the philosophy behind it all:

"If there is any message here, it's 'Boy, do we have it good.' Our world of instant food and amazing consumer electronic pleasures is a dazzling wonderland. But the other side of that message is that those things are really distractions in life. It's wonderful to have our choice of junk food or video games or hundreds of channels at a moment's notice, but what our lives should be centered around are family and friends, who can't be replaced."

As someone prone to... unhealthy obsessions, it's good to be reminded of that from time to time. (Oh and uh, DreamWorks... you can mail me my check.)

Yesterday, I learned through the grapevine (specifically, the forums of CheapAssGamer.com) of a two-day Memorial Day sale at Circuit City, and decided to go check it out early this morning. I walked out with what I consider a steal on three PS2 games: Jak 3, Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal, and Dragon Quest VIII, for a grand total of $30. That's $150 worth of games down to $10/a pop. We (I dragged my kid-sister along) were pretty much there when the doors opened - a good thing it turns out, as I managed to grab the last copy of DQ and one of two remaining copies of Ratchet. (Most everything is unplayed as of this writing, save a playable demo of FFXII packaged with Dragon Quest which I completed. It's... interesting. Active mode plays scarily like FFXI Online, but the waiting between hits is a bit offputting...)

Circuit City also held another one of it's all CDs (under $14) for $10 deals, and on slightly more than a whim, having paid little more than passing interest to the music game for some time now, picked up the soundtrack for Over The Hedge and saved a neat four-buckaroos. And, in doing so, I've discovered Ben Folds. It's not that I haven't heard the name before, over the years I've learned to generalize mainstream music with crap, (and indie music as crap with a slightly tangy aftertaste), so I never paid any attention. But the six songs on this album (by Folds, with one featuring Shatner) are shockingly good. And for the first time, I've found myself listening to these songs moreso than the actual score. A strong piano performance, melodic harmonies, upbeat, smart lyrics, and solid vocals - it's the real deal. And it meshes with the orchestrated themes of the film better than any soundtrack I have ever heard. Disney tried this bit by employing the Barenaked Ladies for the Chicken Little soundtrack (One Little Slip), but the effort just fell flat; the song was boring and stupid and really didn't belong in the larger scope of things - the same goes for the god awful filler by groups like The Cheetah Girls (*cringe*).

Anyway, thus far, I'm quite happy with what I've heard, and look forward to picking up another Folds album in the not-so distant future.

On a more somber (and bizzare) note, we also headed down to Pier 39 in San Francisco today just to do the tourist thing, and I swear, there was a dead kangaroo on the side of the highway. I did a double-take when I saw it - what the heck was a kangaroo doing in Marin county anyway? (Maybe I really am going insane...)

San Francisco was pretty okay. Though the more I visit the city, the less I think I'd care to live there. Too many people.