Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

The year's biggest gaming exposition is almost over. Lots of new games were revealed and many known ones are that much closer to release. Are there any news bits that attracted your attention or new games you're looking forward to playing?

Personally, I'm intrigued by New Super Mario Bros. Wii. The classic game style combined with the simultaneous multiplayer should make for a fun experience.

I'm looking forward to the New Super Mario Bros. too. I'm also looking forward to the Metroid game was that was announced, and the new Super Mario Galaxy...yay, Yoshi's back! If I had a Playstation 3, I'd be absolutely DROOLING over The Last Guardian, as it was designed by Team Ico, which made Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. But alas, I have no PS3.

I'm only slightly disappointed in that no new Pikmin was announced, I was really hoping for that.

If only they announced Earthbound for the Virtual Console...

Yeah, that Metroid game looks really interesting. It seems pretty fast paced from the video, but the hybrid of the side view, rear view, and first person seems to bring together all the best aspects of the series.

Upon seeing the trailer for the next Metroid game, I think I screamed like one of those Korean Fanboys when they saw Starcraft II. Seriously. After all of my complaints, my hate towards Nintendo and the direction they appeared to be heading in, this has taken me by total surprise, and all for the best of reasons. Let's keep it this way, Nintendo.

As for The New SMB Wii, it does seem like a nice addition to the franchise. I mean, I loved NSMB on the DS, the idea of 4-player-mode is likely to be a riot, and...how can they honestly screw this one up?

Bioshock 2, unsurprisingly, has my undivided attention overall. I say unsurprisingly because I'm one of those weird fans that went out and started to read 'Atlas Shrugged' by Ayn Rand because of the game. That, and I've been using 'Would you kindly' more often. Lol.
But for the game itself, the idea of playing as a Big Daddy is an interesting one, and I certainly am curious as to how the story will mutate this time around, especially concerning the Big Sister.

I'm intrigued by Sega's mysterious lack of announcements. Even more so because they had a closed door developers conference, the details of which still haven't been leaked. All of this with the rumor of a new console in 2010 and the suddeness of Simon Jeffries quitting makes a Sega fan most curious... and happy regarding Simon.

I understand that the new COO is going to oversee both the US and Europe branches of Sega. Maybe that means both markets will be getting more games and merchandising that one would have otherwise missed.

I've also recently learned that Sega licensed a company to make new versions of the Genesis that were at the show. Supposedly these are supposed to go on sale next month. One is a console that plays both Genesis and Megadrive games, so I guess it's not region locked. The other is a portable system similar to the old Nomad.

Oh, how interesting, I'd not heard about new authorized Genesis remakes. Last time they did that was in 1998 when they liscensed Majesco to produce the Genesis model 3 and Game Gear's.

I'm quite disappointed though that they'd have one person be over two continents, three really if you consider they classify Australia as being under the Europe branch. I'd heard the Europe branch was doing well for itself. That's the problem the US brandch has been having these past 11 or 12 years is that they kept putting Englishmen over the US division and they had virtually no understanding of the USA and DoC markets.

Apparently the new Genesis (I alternately see it called Genesis 4 or Firebox) and new Nomad (called Retro Gen) are made by one of those companies that has been producing the little plug and play systems with Sega games. You know, the controller things you just plug into a TV? The Genesis 4 is even supposed to have a few games built in like those.

Oh, is the new head another Englishman like that? Well, maybe he will get some good people from the US to advise him. Although, I kind of doubt it. Sega seems to be determined to have a period where every game they release is at one of the extreme ends of the spectrum; either completely "kiddy" or over the top "mature" with graphic violence and as much cursing as they can imagine.

Okay, I've finally found some more info on the new Genesis console. It's called Firecore and is either already out or comes out very soon. Sega's giving one away this Friday. It includes twenty games, which I found listed on a site called Gamesboro. No Phantasy Stars, but at least it should play them.

That's nice of Sega to release a system like that. If only Nintendo did the same thing--that way we wouldn't have to re-buy all of our old games for the virtual console (I gave all of SNES carts away, but if I still had them). Since I don't have a lot of Sega Genesis carts, I guess I'll pass on that Firecore.