The ninth episode of Mitsudomoe has aired, bringing another collection of daft and funny moments in the lives of the Marui triplets. The highlight this week is a toss up between bowling on a frozen pool (using Futaba as the ball, much to her joy) or the dialogue-free segment in which Mitsuba attempts to help Futaba resolve her desire for an outdoor bath - it’s quite well done, using just music and body language (and the odd bit of indecipherable cursing from Mitsuba).

 The episode also features yet another miscommunication mix-up revolving around Hitoha’s love for the Gachi Rangers - the class’ resident pervert mistakes her passionate fangirlism as evidence that she has the mother of all erotic novels in her possession and then hilarity ensues as they continue to talk at cross purposes, which leads to the unfortunate pantsing of their hapless teacher.

 We then move on to a Futaba-centric plot, where her doting father is sick and cannot perform his role as Santa Claus, leaving poor Hitoha to fill his shoes (or suit, as it were) and deliver her gifts. It all goes slightly pear-shaped when Futaba wakes up and accosts Santa, desperate for a glimpse of his face. The situation resolves itself in the end as Hitoha is finally unmasked, but not before she’s managed to batter herself on just about every object in the room in her attempt to escape her sister’s clutches, leaving her with a bloodies face that both disguises her appearance and convinces Futaba that Santa was only hiding his face because he was ugly - but she doesn’t mind at all.

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 The next game in the BioShock series has been unveiled and, in something of a (Bio) shock, it’s not set in the underwater city of Rapture. Indeed, it isn’t set underwater at all, but in an entirely new location - a flying city called Columbia. Like its predecessors, Infinite is also set in a modified version of the past, in this case 1912.

 The rather spiffy looking debut trailer [GameTrailers.com] plays a trick on viewers at the beginning, as it appears to show an underwater setting again, but as the camera pulls back it turns out to be merely a fish tank and, as the trailer progresses, we find the fish tank is in a room of this rather ungainly looking floating city.

 Apart from the setting, the only details to emerge so far are that you play a former former Pinkerton agent called Booker DeWitt who is tasked with saving a woman named Elizabeth from Columbia, where she’s been imprisoned since childhood.

 The full synopsis taken from the official site:

BioShock Infinite is a first-person shooter currently in development at Irrational Games, the studio behind the original BioShock (which sold over 4 million units worldwide). Set in 1912, BioShock Infinite introduces an entirely new narrative and gameplay experience that lifts players out of the familiar confines of Rapture and rockets them to Columbia, an immense city in the sky.
Former Pinkerton agent Booker DeWitt has been sent to rescue Elizabeth, a young woman imprisoned in Columbia since childhood. Booker develops a relationship with Elizabeth, augmenting his abilities with hers so the pair may escape from a city that is literally falling from the sky. DeWitt must learn to fight foes in high-speed Sky-Line battles, engage in combat both indoors and amongst the clouds, and harness the power of dozens of new weapons and abilities.

The official site has further details and downloads.

 I’ve had an hour or so with the videogame adaptation of Scott Pilgrim vs The World and I’ve come away with mixed views so far. First up, on the positive side, it does keep the style of the graphic novel quite nicely and does a good job of referencing 90’s videogame history. The fonts and sounds fit the game perfectly and you have a choice of 4 characters, all of whom are leveled up individually.

 On the down side, the controls can be a bit fiddly - especially when it comes to picking up objects off of the ground - which can be very frustrating in the middle of a group fight. It can also be a little tricky to line up the enemy you wish to pummel as you move up and down the screen.

I played through the first area as Scott, who felt a bit sluggish when walking (double tap or use analogue for sprint) and was a little underwhelming. I then switched to Ramona to replay the same area, and felt a lot more comfortable - she’s much faster moving around the screen and swings a big mallet (what’s not to like?).

Early days yet, and hopefully I’ll get into the swing of the game before long.

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 I’ve been kind of obsessed with Scott Pilgrim vs The World lately, but I seem to have come from it from the reverse angle. By that, I mean I only found out about the series from the movie trailers for the recent film; from there I looked up the videogame and was captivated by the look and style of it and then, finally, found my way to reading the graphic novels.

In this case, I really do seem to have left the best until last; the novels are really rather excellent, with plenty of style and lots of quirky and humorous moments throughout. I’d really quite like to see it adapted into an animated feature or series of some sort, live-action just can’t capture the style appropriately IMO.

The PSN launch trailer [GameTrailers.com] is well worth a watch for anyone even moderately interested.

 DeathSpank has been almost universally described as Monkey Island meets Diablo and that’s pretty much spot on - all the hacking, slashing and looting of a Diablo-like dungeon crawler (although mainly focussed on above ground sections rather than murky underground areas) with the humor and bizarre characters of a Ron Gilbert classic.

 Despite all the Monkey Island references, however, don’t mistake this as anything other than a hack ‘n’ slash, grinder in which you will venture to all corners of the map (generally following quests in the order of: go here, get this and/or kill this, return to me) cutting down and shooting all who are foolish enough to get in your way. A few areas initially may need to be sprinted through, as the difficulty spike is not evenly spread across the map: a good example is the Unicorn forest, which you find quite early but avoiding the Unicorns is almost required until you hit level 20 (the cap) and find some super-duper-awesome-killemall weapons.

 The combat system is quite flexible - each of the face buttons can have a weapon assigned to it (and the D-pad as well, if you really want) and a press of that button will see you shoot, swing or club. Some weapons support a special move: a meter charges as you fight and, when full, allows you to use a (generally) rather devastating attack (my favorite would have to be the spinning sword slash).

 In a similar fashion to weapons, potions, food and special orbs can be assigned to the D-pad for quick access. There are standard healing potions, food items which heal over time (and require you not to take any hits as they heal you), armor and invincibility potions and ever more powerful items that will rain fire on your enemies, cast an impenetrable shield around you or even call up undead followers to fight on your behalf. Potions and special items have a carry limit of 5, meaning you will need to carefully manage your items - especially when involved in a hectic boss fight.

 Separating DeathSpank from other hack ‘n’ slash titles is, of course, the wonderful humor present in the characters and dialogue (even going as far as descriptions of the items and treasure you find). In the tradition of Point and Click adventure games, often the funniest lines in the game are found by deliberately choosing the wrong and/or most bizarre conversation options. DeathSpank himself is well voiced, and sounds pretty much spot on for the odd hero that he is.

 Plot-wise, the game has you initially questing for "The Artifact" but you rapidly find yourself running around doing minor quests (called "Unimportant Things I need to do" in your quest log) for every Tom, Dick and Harriet in the countryside. As you progress, DeathSpank is called upon to rescue Orphans from the nefarious Count Von Prong, who - conveniently enough - seems to have something to do with this mysterious "Artifact". Periodically you are rewarded with a pretty cut-scene, with a sense of style similar to the Penny Arcade Adventures titles (by the same developer IIRC), which help develop the character of DeathSpank (or, at least, provide a window into his lunacy).

 As you progress through the game, there are many treasure chests that hold upgraded weaponry and armor - these require keys to open, which you gain by defeating enemies and completely sidequests. A bit of back-tracking will be required, as several chests are in corners of the map or caves. Generally this effort is rewarded, as you pick up more and more powerful armor and (more importantly in a game like this) killing implements.

 As a downloadable title, DeathSpank is of decent length - 6-9 hours depending on how thoroughly you explore the map. I managed all the achievements within around 7 hours from memory, wish is a pretty decent run at this price point 1200 MS Points (or around A$20). The ending hints at potentially more to come, whether that be a sequel or DLC (or nothing) who knows. Replay value might be a bit lacking - once you’ve done everything, it’s really only the humorous dialogue that will keep you coming back, unless you set yourself specific challenges (ie: finish the game using only melee attacks).

 Despite concerns regarding replay value, I’d definitely recommend this one, I certainly found it quite addictive while hacking my way to that next level or finding gold for that new weapon. Overall: A.

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 Well, this news certainly came as a surprise to me: ONE will be showing English Football this year, but only matches involving Liverpool and Arsenal. Hopefully, in time, this coverage will expand to at least include highlights of the other teams (I can dream, can’t I?).

 A 3 hour programme featuring the two teams matches will air Tuesday and Thursday each week with the Tuesday show at 22:00 and Thursday in the morning or afternoon.

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 Following hot on the heals of the release of The Protector Trials, BioShock 2 will be receiving a more story driven DLC experience later this year (northern Autumn) in the form of Minerva’s Den.

 According to 2K, "Minerva’s Den is a self-contained narrative experience that puts players in the role of an all-new character who has teamed up with Brigid Tenenbaum to unravel a dictator’s stranglehold on a key district in the distinctive city under the sea."

 Sounds promising so far, and it will be nice to see some more story driven scenarios after the strictly story-free play of The Protector Trials - which I enjoyed, but it was a bit of shame to have the focus only on the various challenges rather than on any overarching storyline.

 Sydney’s first game of Season 6 of the A-League kicks off in under 6 hours, when the Boys in Blue meet the terror tards from the south, the Melbourne Victory. Should be a top match, first meeting between the two since the dramatic penalty goal decided Grand Final that concluded the last season.

Victory have Thompson and Hernandez missing, which will dent their attack somewhat (read: almost completely) while Sydney - as a nice change - have no injury concerns and have all hands on deck for this one, including new lads Reddy, Carle and Jamieson.

Can’t wait for this one, currently counting down the minutes until heading out to the ground. FTT!

 Season 6 of the Hyundai A-League begins tonight with new boys the Melbourne Heart at home to Central Coast Mariners. The addition of the new side means that everyone now plays 30 games over the course of the season: more football for everyone, always a good thing.

Sydney’s title defense gets under way on Saturday night when the boys in blue host the Melbourne Victory at the SFS. Should be an absolute cracker and, for once, Sydney have no injury concerns to at all (touch wood).

Pleased to say the site is back up and running after a week or so of downtime - quite a shock to the system to have no Internet access for that length of time. All’s well that ends well, I guess.

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