When one signs up for the Consumer Electronics Show, one expects to get invites to an ungodly number of after-show parties. An ungodly amount. The ungodliest one of all was easily Pink Visual’s much-hyped Pr0n Party, which combines technology lust with good old fashioned regular lust.

The bash was held in the V-Bar (a smallish, but well laid-out space in the Venetian) where journalists from a variety of outlets drank, ate, collected swag, mingled with adult stars Alexis Texas, Lexi Belle, and Kirsten Price, and sampled RealTouch.

Shenanigans ensued, especially from The Other View‘s Terry Lewis who interviewed the stars in most unusual fashion. Check the link to check the action. I admit this very thinly tied to geek culture, but this is just some of the craziness that is CES.

Click here to view the embedded video.

SoulCalibur V, the latest entry in Namco Bandai’s 3D fighting game franchise, is on store shelves and ready for you to hack and slash opponents into submission. We had the opportunity to get our grubby lil’ paws on the game a few weeks ago before it hit retail, and got some serious sessions in–one of which you see here.

In the clip above, Jeffrey L. Wilson (left) gets absolutely ruined by Avion-Foster Jarvis (right). Full disclosure: Wilson hates 3D fighters, his stick was faulty, his cat died that morning, and the dog ate his homework. FACT.

So, check out the video and let us know your early SoulCalibur V opinions. Are you happy with the game’s new “friendlier” direction?

Urban Crime, Gameloft’s latest underworld action-fest, has landed on the iOS platform. The free-to-play sandbox title features plenty of vehicles to jack and enemies to plug with hot slogs. We spoke with Edouard Vitroly, product manager for Gameloft about the new crime title.

iOS games are becoming deeper, more graphically intense affairs. Which hardware does Urban Crime support?

Urban Crime certainly requires a certain level of performance from the device its played on. The most recent hardware to of appeared on the market fits the game perfectly (e.g. new devices such as the iPad2 and iPhone 4/4s), but the game also supports less powerful hardware including the iPhone 3Gs, iPad 1 and iPod Touch 3.

Urban Crime is a spin-off of Gangstar: Miami Vindication. How exactly are the two titles tied together?

As a spin-off, does use the same city & overall atmosphere, but the story itself is different. In Urban Crime you’re embodying a young gangster who has just arrived in Miami. And since Johnny Gainesville (the main character of Gangstar: Miami Vindication) took off, he’s left two massive gangs on the brink of a war over who will replace him. It’s now YOUR duty to make sure your gang not only survives, but rises to the top and claims the seat of power Johnny left behind.

Another major difference between Gangstar: Miami Vindication and Urban Crime is the missions. Urban Crime was actually created to target a new audience through series of missions developed to help introduce new and more casual players to a Gangstar-like experience.

How does Urban Crime separate itself from Gangstar in terms of themes or gameplay mechanics? Also,Urban Crime has gone the freemium model. Could you explain what exactly is free to play and what will cost gamers money?

Overall, players will see that we have simplified the gameplay by shortening the missions in order to adapt to a more casual audience. As the free-to-play model is also linked to the target, it will allow a lot of people to get into the game. The general idea is to give the possibility to play at your own pace. While you have enough energy to play 5 missions every day for free, you can also advance faster by purchasing additional energy packs. Not to mention, you also have exclusive items (e.g. helicopter or boats) that are un-lockable with real money. Although it’s important to note that while items are fun, they are NOT mandatory to finish the missions.

Now, that model has seen success in the free-to-play PC game space, but how has it fared for Gameloft? And now that Grand Theft Auto III has come to mobile devices, where does a game like Urban Crime fit into the market? Urban Crime, after all, owes its existence to the mega-popular GTA brand.

For Gameloft, freemium is viewed as a channel for which to reach new audiences. While we’ve found more avid mobile gamers committed to paymium titles and the experiences they offer, one can’t deny the mass market appeal of the free-to-play business model. In this case, we think that the Gangstar-type games we were creating could potentially resonate amongst a larger audience than the ones we were previously reaching. Thus, by simplifying the gameplay and adding in a freemium component, we thought we could broaden our reach and provide an attractive gaming experience for the more casual-type of mobile gamer.

For us we view this as something that is by no means intended for those who are loyal to the Gangstar franchise, but rather a more introductory version for those who have yet to experience or commit to our paymium titles (i.e. Gangstar: Rio, Gangstar: Miami Vindication, etc.)

Earlier this week, Capcom released a fact sheet providing details of what we can expect from Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 on the Playstation Vita. Set for a February 22 release date, the game appears to be a standard port from it’s Xbox 360 and PS3 versions at first glance, but Capcom has a few surprises to keep the title fresh that will utilize the technology of the Vita.
NEW FEATURES FOR THE PLAYSTATION VITA

• Touch screen control mode – new control scheme based on the touch screen provides an easy and exciting experience for anyone to enjoy.
• NEAR costume sharing – features an exclusive Gold Herald color option for all characters which are obtained through trades with friends.
• Heroes & Heralds mode available at launch – this free update is a separate mode that adds new and customizable features to online and offline gameplay. Players choose between two factions – Heroes or Heralds – and utilize combat enhancing Ability cards in a series of battles to help save the world or take it over.
• Spectator Mode and Replay function – players can watch or share exciting matches over wi-fi.
• “Ultimate Controller” – gamers can use the PS Vita as a controller to play the PS3 version of the game through this exclusive configuration.
• Replay analyzer – download and analyze replay data, exclusively on the PlayStation Vita.
• 3G leaderboard access – for PlayStation Vita 3G owners, view the online leaderboards on-the-go.
• DLC sharing with PS3 – DLC purchased from the console version can be used on the PlayStation Vita version at no charge

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 for the Vita releases on February 22 with a MSRP of $39.99.

Do you think the game will be worth the price? Let us know!

Previously on The Final Fantasy XIII-2 Diaries!

Noel, a boy from the future has to get main character Serah, Lightning’s younger sister, to Valhalla via time warp gates! A moogle with a fat head named Mog accompanies them! The Paradigm Shift battle system from Final Fantasy XIII returns with a few tweaks, random encounters with weak monsters happen, and I’m pleasantly surprised by just about everything so far!

Still not sure how QTEs are supposed to improve the game, but maybe we’ll find out today.

After I load up my save file I’m treated to a… oh, what do you know? It’s a “Previously on Final Fantasy XIII-2!” montage complete with TV-style flashcuts and voice clips of a few scenes I’ve seen before. I always appreciate recaps like this, it’s nice to see XIII-2 do it a brief, fun manner.

After a long load time I’m back in. Looks like Gogmagog is back and he brought grating metal music with him. The music in this game’s pretty weird. It fluctuates between great and not so great at the drop of a chapeau. I dispatch Gogmagog easily then look in the menu for HARD mode. Yes, in Final Fantasy XIII-2 you can toggle between NORMAL and EASY mode whenever you like, but there’s no HARD mode! I wish Square had gone to The World Ends With You for inspiration when it comes to difficulty. In that game you can switch difficulty at any time between Easy, Normal, Hard and Ultimate, though I think Hard and Ultimate modes have to be unlocked. If Hard Mode turns out to be DLC of all things I’m calling an open season on moogles.

Thank god there's no Dubstep de Chocobo. Yet.

After Gogmagog, I come across the game’s first chocobo! I actually shake my fists with glee in a goofy manner. Oh, gosh. I didn’t mean to do that. It was an automatic response, like a reflex. Anyway, I need Gysahl Greens to ride this bad boy… do I have any? What luck! A treasure sphere with gysahl greens inside. I remember I took on a sidequest to find a missing medkit at the village, so I hop on the chocobo and ride back expecting that (in)famous CRAZY CHOCOBO metal music. I’m treated to a light nimble version of the trademark chocobo tune instead. It kind of sounds like Sonic CD music, so I must like it.

I’m surprised I can take the big bird into the village. NPCs are impressed by it. They all go “He’s a grand one! He’s huge! Wow, a chocobo!” I know, I know, peasant NPCs. Hands off, now. I can even go in the house with it! What a different game this is than FFXIII. Then I realize, this being a time travel game and all, the medkit is probably in another time or something. Having used one gysahl green already, I tread back to the gate to continue my quest to Valhalla.

Once I get to the gate some dopey conversation with the NORA jerks occurs. Turns out they all did heartwarming stuff for Serah without her knowing. How sweet. I could do without this anime-lite stuff — oh look I can see Lebreau’s panties — but hey. The voice acting’s great, I just wish the writing was a lot better.

Speaking of voice acting, Noel’s far and away the best one of the lot. A lot of actors make pauses and chew on their lines, but all of Noel’s dialogue has a good clip to it. Though a lot of the stuff he says can be super-serious or solemn he never goes in that obvious direction.

OK, let’s enter the gate! Noel and Serah appear in the HISTORIA CRUX, what I assume is now the game’s main hub.

I just talked about how much I like Noel, but how does he know all this stuff about time gates and the Historia Crux? Did Lightning tell him?

Gaspar, Melchior, Balthazar... and Noel. ...Wait a minute!

OK, looks like the Historia Crux is an interface that allows backtracking to previous areas. Shame it’s got such goofy music playing in the background. A lot of these songs would be better without the vocals. The singer’s just yelling “TIME AND SPACE TIME AND SPACE…!” Oh cool, I can enter the Historia Crux from the PAUSE menu? Now that’s nice.

K, let’s go to Bresha Ruins. Oh hey, it’s the area from the demo! Atlas, a big giant that’s in some weird time-distorted semi-invisible state, attacks. “Guess that arm doesn’t wanna shake hands!” Noel snarks. That boy’s all right.

Here the game introduces Wounding Attacks that reduce maximum HP. Wounds cannot be healed by normal potions. Gonna need Wound Potions for that. OK, so this is where the game gets difficult right?

There’s more weird battle music with Engrish vocals… gahhh.

I wonder why Atlas’ stagger bar isn’t going up even though I’m going all-out Ravager on him. Crap, I forgot to use all those Crystarium Points from the last boss fight, I’m probably underleveled. Oh right, it doesn’t matter, this is a QTE battle. I really hope all big boss battles aren’t like this. The cavalry comes in, I press Triangle a bunch of times, we win. I get a Cinematic Bonus item: Silver Gear. Could it be some kind of monster dress-up material?

After the fight, Serah and Noel end up in jail! Full disclosure: That last sentence was almost “Sorah ends up in jail!” Could Noel and Serah, combined, be Sora from Kingdom Hearts? Time travel, distorted dimensions, other worlds — it could make sense. About as much sense as the rest of the Kingdom Hearts canon. Maybe they’re Sora’s Heartless/Nobody/Unknown/Gall Bladder.

OK, more Live Trigger stuff. I get a chance to be a jerk to a prison guard and I take it.

Then a Samus Aran from Other M type shows up. Dr. Hotpants trips over her own feet, gets us out of jail with a lot of smooth-talkin’, then I’m free to walk around. Turns out Samus/Dr. Hotpants is named Alyssa and she runs away even though she’s my objective. That’s cool, I can just like… explore and stuff. Like an RPG! I expand my Crystarium, learn some spells, open the Synergist and Saboteur roles… This game’s coming together OK.

At this point I take a break to let my PS3 cool down some… Sony products, y’know?

I like my women the same way I like my coffee: covered in bright red feathers.

I turn the game on again and there’s UPDATE DATA?! Ooh! I let the game update and DLC is accessible now! Except… there’s nothing to download yet. Huh. Back to the main game.

I explore Bresha, find some treasure spheres, and talk to some NPCs. I appreciate the details in the game, but these guys are just repeating stuff I already know. And lot of them repeat stuff I’ve heard before… hrm. No side quests yet. CHOCOLINA appears and oh man, her voice… it’s peppy all right. I buy some items and new weapons from the bird woman and bid adieu to her chirpy enthusiasm. Best thing about her: all the inevitable cosplaying.

I talk to Alyssa. Noel gets tricksy with her and convinces her fighting Atlas is a good idea. As if that wasn’t the only option! I venture forth and the MONSTER CATCHING part of the game gets introduced! Catching them is as easy as defeating them it seems. I can then slot them in as the third party member. Cait Sith (don’t expect a Final Fantasy VII cameo) becomes my medic while… some other mechanical doodad becomes my new Ravager.

The game lays a lot of  new tutorial stuff on me that all goes into the DATALOG in the main menu. The Datalog is a lot like the one from XIII and it has the same glaring fault: there’s still no Mark All as Read option for all the new unread entries. If I want to get rid of all those glaring exclamation points I have to access each unread entry individually. I guess after researching all those Western RPGs to see how they can fix Final Fantasy they missed this one little thing. It’s little, yeah, it but sure is convenient.

May I, uh, show you to your table, sir?

Besides that though, the game’s coming together much faster than XIII. Only a few hours in and there’s already so much to do.

As I go through the ruins, digging the music all the way (no vocals!), I come across Chester the soldier who gives me a sidequest to defeat a C’ieth monster. The C’ieth are humans who got turned into monsters by the Fal’cie, the gods of Cocoon Lightning and the gang defeated in the previous game. The more you know. Yup, this is the demo we all played not too long ago. Mog can now uncover hidden treasure chests using his little bobble thing. NPCs are talkity and have opinions about things. Personality and world-building appears to be back.

I get through the dungeon, kill the C’eith, get another side quest to find experimental drugs (?!) and catch more monsters. This is… this is almost like a game! I can dress up my new monster companions with items I find, like that Silver Gear I got before. I put a newsboy cap on a monster and it covers his entire head. This… is adorable.

After a few more Live Trigger events and battles I get to a thing that’s supposed to help me defeat Atlas. I access it and it warps me to some other plane of existence where I have to solve a simple puzzle by walking on panels. I have the option to retry it if I mess up, or to quit altogether. I solve it because 1.) it’s simple and b.) I get a reward.

Solving the puzzle weakens Atlas somehow, so I go beat him up and almost have a tough time doing it because of all the wounding damage he inflicts. More QTE nonsense occurs and I still wonder what will happen if I fail them. I should find out the next time.

With Atlas defeated, Alyssa shows up and some sappy story stuff takes place. It’s not awful as I expect, it’s actually kind of depressing when you think about it. I notice the cutscene direction is far, far better this time around with actual blocking in the frame, gestures the characters make and camera movement beyond Having It Sit There.

Final Fantasy, there’s hope for you yet!

[TimeWasters highlights many of the excellent, free Web-based/lightweight downloadable titles that you can dive into within the space of a lunch break. This outing, Jeffrey L. Wilson explores The Search for Tobin Frost.]

The Search for Tobin Frost is the official movie tie-in to Safe House, the Denzel Washington/Ryan Reynolds intelligence thriller written by directed by Daniel Espinoza. The goal is to track down rogue CIA agent Tobin Frost, who has apparently betrayed his country and spilled secrets to various organizations and nations that want to do not-so-nice things to America.

The Search for Tobin Frost gives you four in-game days (not real-time) to track and capture the masterful agent. Each action you take–flying from nation to nation, interrogating people, bribing shady individuals–eats time from the clock, but gives you valuable clues to his whereabouts. These clues demand you identify international currencies, know regional temperatures, and other world facts. Run out of time and Mr.Frost escapes your grasp, Carmen San Diego-style. You can also tap lifelines for clues. They don’t cost time, but you have a limited supply.

Anyone who’s had a world affairs class, or even a history class, should be able to ace the clues and capture Tobin Frost as the game isn’t particularly challenging. The reward for apprehending the rogue agent? An exclusive clip. It’s not super-satisfying, but hey, The Search for Tobin Frost is an interactive movie tie-in.

The Search for Tobin Frost doesn’t really capture the movie experience (it could use some more Denzel and Ryan Reynolds, frankly), but it’s a decent promotional piece for the upcoming film February 10th film.

Hitman Absolution wonderfully balances stealth and Woo-style gunplay.

Avion Foster-Jarvis, Staff Editor
Hitman: Absolution, without question, is one of my most anticipated games of the year. I wasn’t exactly excited back when Square bought Eidos, but IO Interactive is still developing the Hitman series and it looks as if the company has another smash. Agent 47 is back in full effect. The pre-alpha build that Square showcased at CES took place in a nun-run orphanage and it looked pretty damn good. Yes, you could see that some things weren’t finished (such as objects not moving when you attempted to interact with them), but the demo was so amazing that none of that mattered.

The Square Enix rep played through the demo twice. The first go, he was stealthy and patient and hid the bodies of any NPCs he had killed. The second time around things got a bit more violent. To show us just how many options you have in tackling missions, he rescued a cop that was being interrogated by criminals and used a fire axe to take out three thugs. This doesn’t sound all that gruesome in text, but seeing is indeed believing. With axe in hand, Agent 47 entered the room and drove it into one of the enemies spines causing the other two to panic. As he was being fired upon he decided to get up close and personal and placed the axe between the eyes of another and lastly, my favorite part, was when Agent 47 flipped and threw the fire axe across the room into one of the enemy’s faces.

Anything can be a weapon, from a fire axe to a toy robot and even a bible. It just bleeds replayability. The in-game dialogue is equally bad ass. There never once seemed to be a low point in which characters were not talking; if they weren’t dying they were talking. Hurling insults to Agent 47 while they took cover or even speaking on a team members drug addiction or perhaps even speaking of “popping” nuns.

Will you be a silent assassin or a brutal killer? It’s entirely up to you.

Tim Torres, Senior Reviews Editor
I never played Hitman before. The most experience I’ve had with Agent 47 is with that movie. Yeah, yeah, it was a crap plot, but I liked Timothy Olyphant and Olga Kurylenko in the leads, so by extension I kind of sort of already like Hitman! The real fans of the games will likely be very, very pleased with the new one, Hitman Absolution.

The demo we saw at CES looked good. Damn good. It showed a very comprehensive game, with lots of stuff for Agent 47 to do and interact with. He took out mooks with a variety of items found on the spot — a fire axe, a fire extinguisher, a crucifix — and many more items were highlighted on the UI as 47 brushed by them. It looked like each new level was a playground for 47 to toy around in, with multiple paths and objects to use. I know Hitman is primarily a stealth game, but what really got me was when the John Woo-inspired slow-mo kicked in and Agent 47 locked several areas of interest in his aim — guys’ heads, guys’ arms, gas canisters, the private parts of one unfortunate goon — then the action sped back up and he made each excruciating shot perfectly. So, in case I get tired of sneaking around everywhere I can choose to pull off some incredible gunplay.

I was really pleased with the presentation as well. IO Interactive is taking a cinematic approach with a very clean HUD and continuous dialogue from the bad guys, yet they’re still, thankfully, keeping it a video game. No QTEs, no game-interrupting cutscenes or explanations, it all looked very natural and smooth. Thank goodness. With Deus Ex back, a new Thief on the way, MGS5 on the horizon and now a promising new Hitman, we’re entering a new renaissance for the stealth genre. Hitman Absolution was barely on my radar before. Now it’s near the top of my most wanted list for 2012.

Tatjana Vejnovic, Managing Editor
I’m a huge Hitman fan. I haven’t played the games since I was a lass, but hey, I know enough to say I’m a pretty big fan. Agent 47 is an intriguing character. Critics cite his lack of emotion and personality as an example of a two-dimensional character, but in my opinion, that’s what makes him who he is–a stone cold assassin. But Hitman Absolution changes it all; Agent 47 is now after his old boss, Diana, and must go through hell and back to save a girl who he knows nothing about.

If you know me at all, you know that I love the Mass Effect series for its dynamic storytelling. Hitman Absolution has the potential to top Mass Effect. NPCs have over two thousand pages of dialogue–now keep in mind, one page is one minute of dialogue. The NPCs have their own personalities, back stories, and opinions. You can get three different sets of dialogue from the cop in the beginning alone; you can let him die, save him, or kill him yourself and have a completely different experience with each choice. You can pick up a toy robot and throw it to distract the other gang members, or you can kill one with it. You can pacify your enemies, or you can kill them with large crucifixes. Let me just warn you now, Hitman Absolution is NOT for the easily offended, or the queasy.

New to the game is what they call an “Instinct Meter.” The more “professionally” you operate, the faster the meter fills up. For example, when the meter was full, the developer went into a room full of thugs and entered the Instinct Mode. He instantly went in slow motion and began to target several different parts on each body; knee caps, faces, and even crotches.  Depending on which target you select, it may cost more instinct points (like the double-knee-cap-triple-crotch-shot). Don’t forget, you don’t have forever to do this; you are timed, and only have what you’ve filled on your meter. As you select targets, you see Agent 47 slowly raise his guns, and when you target and release, sit back and relax for an epic cinematic playthrough.

I cannot express enough words for how excited I am about Hitman Absolution. With a Q3/Q4 release prediction, I have enough time to go back through the trilogy and relive the series before diving into the new installment. Reserve your copy as soon as you can, because you sure as hell don’t wanna miss this one.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 ($59.99, Amazon) is out for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. With this sequel, Square Enix set out to right the wrongs of the previous game, namely tunnel vision level design, off-kilter pacing, and a lack of player immediacy. But this new one promises to be a different beast. Let’s find out together if that’s true. Instead of playing, finishing the game and then posting my final review I will chronicle my time with it. This will be different from my typical reviews. The format will be looser, a bit more free-form. It should be fun! So let’s dive in.

The game opens immediately, without a need to install anything. Thank goodness. More and more it seems console games resemble PC games, in that they require some ridiculous lengthy pre-install. Not XIII-2. It’s starting up all quick-like!

So, the opening cutscene. Director Motomu Toriyama’s name shows up and I cringe a bit. The 3rd Birthday, in which he had a large hand, was a harrowing experience. Some things are tough to shake off. And this game involves time travel, too, so my guard is up. Way up.

Okay, we see a dude putting a girl, presumably dead, into water. Shades of Final Fantasy VII here. The same dude also has the Soulcalibur apparently. His big sword has a big eye in it, I mean, what else could it be?

Theme Song: CHARICE. I don’t think this is the original theme song. The last game’s theme was replaced with “My Hands” by Leona Lewis. I don’t think it really fit what was going on in the game (not that I could explicitly tell what was going on in the game), and it was full of cheese. I don’t know why Square felt the need to switch out the better theme song for something else. They didn’t do that for “Melodies of Life” or “Suteki da ne”, right? I dunno, maybe it’s a licensing thing. And hey, I’m passing judgment on a song I didn’t even hear yet. Maybe it’s great!

OK, that was a neat intro. Full of oohs and aahs and all that anti-gravity goodness from Advent Children.

Oh, all right. We’re at the title screen. Pretty!

Try and make sense of this!

Hey, a Beginner’s Primer. It details what happened previously on Final Fantasy XIII! Maybe the story will make sense this time. Hm. Actually, this primer brings back fond memories of my early moments of the game. The beginning of the game was really good! We were thrown right into the action alongside characters with interesting motivations, primarily Lightning and Hope. There was great music in the Gapra Whitewood…

By Chapter 6 of this primer — about halfway through the game — I’m reminded just how little story there is stretched across FFXIII. It turned out to be a very poorly paced game. And Sazh’s threatened suicide was pretty silly. Oh, Jihl! That Baroness from G.I. Joe-looking girl was a wasted character. Nope, this primer didn’t help me. Things happened in that story, well, just because.

Time to start a new game. It detects my save data from FF XIII! It says there will be new extras and new goodies to find in-game. I wonder what they are?

WHOA. Autosave!? Save ANYWHERE? This is indeed a new and exciting universe.

Here’s the actual intro. Oh. It’s the same thing I watched before, only with dialogue. Guess I could’ve skipped that earlier intro movie. The SoulCalibur-swingin’ dude casts Meteor! Cool! He’s named Caius! And he TRANSFORMS! Whooaa. I’m grinning like an idiot now. And finally playing! I skip the tutorial and go into battle. It’s basic stuff, nothing complicated. I just Auto-battle and mash X until I win. I notice the great music and raise the volume.

Quick Time Events pop up and I roll my eyes a bit. They’re easy to pull off. I wonder what happens if I fail to do any, but I go through with them anyway. I miss the last one on purpose, but nothing seems to change, I still win. The characters’ acrobatics are very reminiscent of Advent Children.

A question we often come across in life: Melee or Gun?

Another battle in the air and again, it’s easy-peasy. It’s the very beginning of the game, so it gets a pass. There’s more cool-looking story stuff, but I have no idea who’s what or what’s going on. I know Lightning obviously, she’s there in Valhalla looking a lot like Lenneth from the Valkyrie Profile games: armor, feathers, exposed thighs and all. We meet Noel suddenly and Mog the moogle, who Lightning just kind of pulls out of nowhere. I like the contrast between super-serious Lightning and super-deformed cutesy Mog.

Lightning gives Noel his mission: take Mog, find Serah, bring her to Valhalla. Nice and simple. Noel’s a good sport and he takes the moogle and his mission and doesn’t ask any questions. Then a METEOR strikes! You want a FF7 remake? You got it right here!

More story stuff. We meet Serah and a few of those NORA losers from the last game. And I explore the first Final Fantasy town in HD. The seaside location’s pretty, and I really like the crystallized Cocoon in the distance, but exploring this first town is a bit underwhelming. Serah can jump, but she can’t jump anywhere cool even though there are plenty of spots that look jumpable. Houses? Can’t go in them except one! I wanna look around and explore! At least there are NPCs here. They’re very talkative and the voice acting’s pretty good so far. The music is fantastic so far. Granted I only heard maybe three or four tracks.

Eventually I get to fighting bad guys. It feels good. The battle system is very similar to Final Fantasy XIII except random encounters are back. Monsters just pop out of nowhere and then the Mog Clock counts down from green to yellow to red. Bash the bad guy while it’s green, you get boosts like Haste. Bash ‘em while it’s yellow, a normal battle occurs. Red: dead. Well, no, but you get debilitated somewhat.

Choose wisely.

I like the return of random battles. It keeps me on my toes and the Mog Clock reminds me of Persona 3‘s approach to engaging battles. Hit an enemy, you get initiative. The enemy hits you and they get the upper hand. Makes sense.

And what’s this? Does the game have a sense of humor?! As I make my way through the area outside the village, Gadot, the biggest NORA doof, shows up and acts all tough around Noel because he’s not from around there. A LIVE TRIGGER pops up. It’s a little dialogue event that stops the action and asks me how I want to respond. It gives me four choices. I ask Gadot “Aren’t you the boss?” and the big galoot acts all bashful and embarrassed and runs away. Fun, silly stuff.

I get up to the first real boss, a beast named Gogmagog that kind of resembles Anima from Final Fantasy X. It’s another easy victory. So far all battles have been. But hey. Beginning of the game.

So far, I’m liking Noel. He seems like a reasonable lad even though he’s from a bleak future. He’s not whining about anything and he’s all about business. I like how focused he is and he’s not brusque either. Serah, so far, has done little to annoy me. I approve of her new role as main character. It’s nice to have a leading lady who actually asks questions and seems interested in what’s going on instead of blindly following the orders of the men around her, and depending on LIVE TRIGGERS she can be as clueless or snarky as we please. She also wields a moogle that can turn into a bow-and-arrow and a sword at will. That’s cool.

Paradigms from Final Fantasy XIII return with a few tweaks. Now I can fine-tune them to target single enemies or wide swaths of them. I don’t find a reason to actually do that yet. The Crystarium returns as well, though it’s really different. Instead of a skill tree for each class — Ravager, Commander, Medic, etc. — there’s a single skill path for each character, so I can build Serah or Noel into any kind of class or mix of classes that I want. Spiffy!

That’s all for now! I’m early in and it’s a promising start. Stay tuned the Final Fantasy XIII-2 Diary, Part Two.

Sonic CD has been available on Xbox Live, the PlayStation Network and the iTunes App Store for a little while now, so hopefully you’ve played it already. If not, let me explain why Sonic CD is more than a mere port. SEGA went above and beyond and made the definitive version of a classic.

Previously available on the ill-fated Sega CD, a buggy PC port and Sonic Gems Collection for GameCube, what differentiates Sonic CD from its peers – Sonics 1,  2 and 3 for the Genesis — is the Back to the Future-style time travel element. Before Sonic CD, one could just plow through levels, collect rings and call it a day. In CD you can do the same thing for the most part, but you gain a better ending if you seek out the time travel signposts placed around each level. Run through a time-post labeled “Past”, find a good spot in the level to do your best Marty McFly impression, that is, run at top speed long enough to see some serious sh– I mean, make sparks fly, and Sonic warps through time to a past version of the level. Once there, you have to seek out and destroy big machines that will make the Present version of the level much easier to get through and the Future version of the level much brighter and nearly hazard-free.

Don’t expect a cake walk, though! Sonic CD is damn hard thanks to the craziest level design the series has ever seen. Loop-the-loops, spike traps, pitfalls, and dastardly enemy placement will give Sonic a tough time. There’s an entire level later on made entirely of bouncy material that sends Sonic skyward constantly. And I mean constantly. It can be maddening at times, especially since there aren’t many useful power-ups beyond the usual invincibility, shield, and fast shoes to help the poor hedgehog. On top of that, it’s never obvious where the machines in the Past levels are located. Exploration and memorization are key. Or you can just cheat and look up maps online.

Will the future be bright or dim?

The honest alternative to get the best ending (a longer, super-well-animated anime cutscene, by the way) is to collect 50 rings by the end of a level to access a weird UFO bonus stage. Bonus stages in Sonic games are usually pretty awful, and this one is no exception. The behind-the-back Mode 7-looking graphics are cool, but it’s difficult to control Sonic in this mode and gauging distances between Sonic and the UFOs he has to bash is extra-tricky. These bonus levels are also filled with difficult-to-dodge water and bumper hazards that slow Sonic way down. It’s a tall order, but defeat seven of those stages and the good ending is yours.

Despite the difficulty Sonic CD‘s a guaranteed fun time. The controls are spot-on, the twisted level design will get under your skin and each battle against Dr. Robotnik gets more creative and challenging. They’re some of the better boss battles in the series, I’d wager. I don’t want to say too much without spoiling anything, but the best encounter in the game is against Metal Sonic. Maybe it’s the music, maybe it’s the idea of Sonic engaging in a death race against a robotic version of himself, but I just love that ‘bot. Definitely one of the best characters in the series. Certainly one of the best designs.

A lot of personality comes through in CD’s timeless presentation, particularly the sprite work and the music. The various animations for Sonic are a joy to just look at, especially when he jumps on a spring and twirls high into the air, or when he revs up the peel-out dash move that makes his legs look like a red infinity symbol. More than any other game in the series I think this one shows you how heroic — how cool! — Sonic can be. This version of the game even lets you choose between two different types of the spin-dash animation: the Sonic CD version or the superior, more fluid-looking Sonic 2 version. It’s this attention to detail — the option to select between two different versions of sprite animation – that elevates this port from merely “good” to “they thought of everything.”

There’s also the much-appreciated option to play either the American or Japanese soundtracks during gameplay. I’m more partial to Spencer Nielsen’s American score, but the Japanese one is just as good. It’s worth replaying the game to listen to both soundtracks.

Sonic’s pint-sized sidekick, Tails, is the bigger reason to replay. He never appeared in the original game at all, but once you finish it you can take control of Tails and fly around, so it’s easier to hover around levels looking for those pesky hidden machines in the Past. He’s a huge addition to the game, one that SEGA didn’t even have to include, but they chose to put him in. More value to an already impressive digital package.

whaaa sonic help meee

Sonic CD is an evolutionary off-shoot of the Sonic series.  Time travel returned as the main plot conceit in Sonic Generations, but not something that factored into gameplay. The only other thing to get carried over into later games in any meaningful fashion was Amy Rose, Sonic’s unofficial girlfriend. Even Metal Sonic never returned… until a Sonic 4 secret ending, apparently. It’s probably a good thing he’s not as overexposed as the other characters. Still, it would’ve been cool to see the ideas in Sonic CD refined and improved upon, perhaps in a spin-off series or something. Sonic CD‘s a a one-off, an unusual experiment, and with its bizarre level design and sometimes off-putting difficulty it often feels like one.

But it’s a great game regardless and I’m thrilled to have such a robust version of the game available in HD with so many options on so many different platforms. SEGA, with the help of a programmer named Christian Whitehead who spearheaded the project on his own on iPhone, did a brilliant job bringing this classic game back to life.  It’s the new shining example of how to resurrect an old game for new audiences.

You want some gaming gear? We got your gaming gear. Well, actually, Mad Catz does.

Many gaming-related accessories graced the CES 2012′s halls and hotels, but no company matched the variety that Mad Catz showcased. From fight sticks to MMO mice to flight sticks (and beyond!), Mad Catz had plenty of wares on display. But enough of our yappin’; check out the gallery below for some most excellent shots of Mad Catz’ new merchandise.