So, hope the people who read my Impromptu RPG Awards liked what was there, not many comments on it though!!

I've added a new latest purchases thread to the forum, as I realised the update was necessary considering my latest purchases and preorders. Check there to see the list.

Predictably I've had little time to write much or play much because work is overload again (and the happy offset is the overtime = more presents). I have, however, reached the 3rd disc of Lost Odyssey (brilliant game!), done muchos Geometry Wars 2, completed Trauma Center 2, and picked up the first TC Wii game. I've been exploring a lot in Lagaard courtesy of Etrian Odyssey 2 and that should tide me over until Dragon Quest IV next week. Only problem is, is that I'm almost equally looking forward to Opoona on the Wii. How will I divide my time?

Guess the next blog post will reveal all! Whenever it may be!

In the end I decided to do something with my time off. I wrote up some awards for what I believe are the best RPGs around.  I've only just touched upon the RPGs I own though, and so I know that anyone who reads this will no doubt feel that I've missed something out here or there. Or maybe even everywhere. Well, ths little blog entry is here so you can tell me what is wrong, right, or what your thoughts are.

You can find the articles on the 'Feature Articles' page or you can click the banner on the front page to take you directly to it. You'll know it when you see it...



And as a completely random (impromptu?) aside, I just found this!!

Heresy!


A social networking site called Extra Life!  From 2008!  Not 2004! Nothin'I can do about it.

It's certainly been a while since my last post, but that doesn't mean I've been completely negligent of my website duties. Partially negligent fair enough...

I've finally got Internet back at home (it's been a year since I had that 'luxury'), and so potentially I've got no excuse for not doing some work. Realistically though I've got many a game to play, and have acquired several since last updating the 'Collection' page, which means a hefty amount of work reorganising that now (waaah!). Some notable inclusions to my collection include Lost Odyssey and DBZ: Burst Limit on 360, Trauma Center on the Wii, Final Fantasy Tactics A2 on the DS, Ar Tonelico on PS2, PoPoLoCrois on PSP and a few more here and there on many platforms. I'll get it updated properly at some point.

Lots of games, so little time. Will I ever finish all the games? Probably not, especially as there are muchos games to be bought in the near future! I actually cancelled my Dragon Quest IV preorder on Playasia... Because it is out 3 days earlier in the UK!! What are the chances eh? Slim, that's what. I'm a little miffed that I'll be getting the 'fat' PAL box for the game, but I'm sure I'll get over it. Especially as this is my current 'Most Anticipated DS Game' just pipping Tales of Hearts (because that's out later). There's so much else though, Chrono Trigger DS is out later this year... Etrian Odyssey 2, Trauma Center 2, Izuna 2, FFIV, Bangai-O Spirits, Rondo of Swords... I haven't even bought these yet, though I mean to get them at some point and that's only my DS list. RPGs on the 360 also seem to be coming thick and fast, in terms of announcements at least. We've got Tales of Vesperia, Star Ocean 4, Infinite Undiscovery, The Last Remnant, Two Worlds: The Temptation (just for me, I'm the only one that liked the original game) and... FFXIII!! Cripes , on 360. That removed my only need to pick up a PS3, for the time being at least. Heh. That £300 can go to much better use elsewhere. Oh yeah, Opoona on the Wii, want that too.

Rambling. There are so many damn games fluttering about at the moment, I'm in a semi-haze over it all. Getting a bit delirious aren't I?

Anyhoo, I've been chipping away at the Tales games, almost finished Abyss. I finally completed The World Ends With You too, and very impressed I was too, a gem of a DS game, everyone should have it. They should also have a reserve DS for it too as the game severely scratches your screen come the more hectic later battles. My poor battle-worn DS.

Right, I'll leave this one here, and get back to Puzzle Quest and Lost Odyssey.

Til 't next time.

Finally I've had a weekend off, and while it may not look like too much has changed on the site, I've been giving a general nip/tuck to the place all afternoon! I've now got the reviews section in the format I want it, but I do need to add more consoles to the list available. When I get more reviews up on the site that'll happen, but I need photoshop and my reviews, but I'm without them :(


I've also added a rudimentary forum, which should be good for quickly adding some info to the site, and maybe it'll get used! Unfortunately it's a basic forum, cannae add images to it! It'll be okay though, honest!

I've also started a new fanzine finally! It's the Tales issue you might have heard mention of recently. I've got planned reviews of all the Tales games I've now acquired (which is pretty much all bar Japanese PSP ports and the Tales of Fandom games - when my Japanese gets better, Fandom may come). I'm also going to do a feature on the series progression since it's inception on the SNES in 1995, take a look at the development of the battle system from the original Linear Motion Battle System of Tales of Phantasia to the Dimension Stride Linear Motion Battle System of Tales of Innocence. I'm also going to take a look at series artists Kosuke Fujishima and Mutsumi Inomata.

Here is the cover I've knocked up so far. It isn't finished, just the artwork fro the back of the Legendia manual combined with the usual title and contents, but I'm going to add some feature bits before the issue is finished!

 

[This post is also on my Gamespot and 1up.com blogs]

March was a fruitful month. Not only did I end up working so much overtime that next month's overtime pay itself will be more than my actual whole pay this month (I'm looking at about 2G's in total), I also had a birthday and acquired a good deal of awesome games! So without further ado, here are some impressions of what I've played so far. With 84hr weeks at work, time has been scant, but as of now I might just have a little more time to play some of these pretty awesome games.

Tales of Legendia

I started this game first of all my new games (well, it was just the first to arrive, no big deal), but with the influx of games I've had, I'm currently only about 5hrs into Legendia. For those who didn't know, Legendia was the first Tales game to be developed in-house by Namco, as opposed to the dedicated Tales studio that puts out the other games in the series. As such, many people may consider this game in the series to be something of a step backwards. True enough, the game feels more like a 3D'd update of an older Tales game, especially as the all important battle system is a straight 2D battle, without multiple planes (a la Tales of Rebirth or Tales of the Tempest), but despite the lack of progress in this department, the game is still a fun addition to the series (so far). The setting of the game is on a vast ship that resembles an Island and is very interesting in itself. The chibi character designs help the game stand out from more recent games in the series and the game really does feel to me more like a SNES game, which is fine for me. I'm not going to say its the best Tales I've ever played, but a full review on my website in the future will be where I make some solid conclusions (i.e. I need to finish the game first!)

Tales of the Abyss

This arrived shortly after Legendia, but has had me hooked in the spare hours I've had. I'm 17hrs into the game at the moment and have just reached Jade's homeland on a wintery isle (but have not done anything here yet, hence I can't even remember the island's name). I really do like this game, which feels very much like Tales of Symphonia in style, with a further improved battle system that allows for some very stylish moves to be pulled off, alongside some also impressive defense and offense tactics. The protagonist of the game, Luke fon Fabre is an excellent character. He may be a selfish obnoxious brat to begin with, but it is easy to see why he is this way. The first time he steps up to fight the God General's is a brilliant moment, as you can see that he is beginning to change (even if his major downfall is yet to come), and the potential in his character begins to shine through. My only disappointment so far with this game (and it isn't the speech, for once the English voice cast are pretty good!) is the world map. It looks excellent, as though it has been taken straight from a pop up story book, but the slowdown and poor draw in is pretty detrimental, as well as the long loading times that occur after each (frequent) battle. It ain't enough to put me off though, I'd guess that this will be the first game I complete of this lot.

Tales of Destiny

Gamespot's review of 4.9 is waaaay off. I've only spent a little under 10 hours with this game so far, but everything seems good at this point. The encounter rate is perhaps going to be too high for some people, but the battle system is enjoyable enough to negate this for me. Graphically, this game is a step up from Phantasia and if you love 2D graphics you'll find a lot to like here, especially with the little touches such as footprints left in the snow, reflections in the water (though this was a feature on the SNES Phantasia), and a high level of detail in towns, cities and dungeons. I was a bit miffed with with Stahn's first skill being called 'Missile Sword', when in other Tales games you would see it as 'Demon Fang', but then this was the first game in the series to be translated for an English speaking audience. I'm not too far into the story yet, so I'll reserve judgement on what is largely an unknown at the moment (yeah, I'm avoiding spoiling the stories of all these games for myself), but I'm very much looking forward to playing through this one too!

Odin Sphere

Yay for more 2D graphics. This side scrolling beat 'em up/RPG is a beautiful effort from Vanillaware, and I'm really surprised that we finally got here in Blighty. Again, I've only had a couple of hours with this game as I've got it at home and had merely one day off since getting it, so at the moment I'm making my way through the tutorial levels. I'm really interested to see how the story develops, as the story 'tree' you can see in the story book at the beginning (albeit as yet unfilled) shows there is definitely a lot to this game. It also seems quite tough too, as I've died on several occasions already...

Tales of Rebirth

I picked this up a couple of weeks ago, and have this on my home 'To Do' pile. 3hrs into this one, and my first impressions are very favourable. Put simply, this is one of the most breathtakingly fantastical games I have ever seen. The game world is beautiful, and puts many other RPGs to shame. The 2D backdrops are so inviting I really do wish I could explore them myself. So far the language barrier isn't proving to be much of an actual barrier (guess I'll eat my words when a puzzle crops up). I've not had too much trouble understanding certain sections of it mostly because of the high level of speech in the game, which has helped me to better understand the text (filling in the gaps in my Katakana knowledge). The characters so far seem excellent, and the battle system is different enough from most other Tales games to prevent a sense of deja vu setting in (with the little experience I have had of it so far anyway). The fights are fought on a 2D plane with 3 'rows' which can be switched between at any time (if you've played Tales of the Tempest you'll notice they used a similar system there), it is fast paced, and most importantly fun! Where I'm going to get the hours from to finish all of these games I don't know. Maybe I ought to hold off buying things for a while?

Dragon Warrior VII

Now I finally have an NTSC PS2, I've been picking up a few PS1 games that never had a PAL release (or are too expensive in PAL like Star Ocean 2). The Dragon Quest/Warrior games are a series that I am very fond of, so getting hold of this seemed a natural choice. In 2008, this game looks better than it probably did in 2001, from a retro point of view. The stylised graphics that add a third dimension to the hand drawn graphics of old suit the game perfectly, and being able to rotate the maps 360 degrees allows you to uncover a great many secrets (even early on), which really bolsters the sense of adventure in the game. Gamers who like to be thrust straight into a game might want to tread carefully, as the first few hours are more of a detective quest in uncovering the secrets of the local ruins of Estard. I've only just managed to solve this first puzzle of the ruins and have now been transported to another time, and an island that doesn't exist anymore in the 'modern' world from whence my party came. It seems as though DQVII is a journey of great discovery and wonderment, which is a pleasant change of pace from imminent world destruction found in the stories of many RPGs (I'm guessing there'll be something along these lines at some point though), as I feel like it is more 'my' quest than one thrust upon me. Great game!

Beautiful Katamari

What, not an RPG?! Nope, I was bought Beautiful Katamari for my birthday and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. There is something hugely relaxing about rolling a ball of junk. There is also something quiet darkly terrifying about it too, as you roll up people and animals, continents and then the world... Beautiful Katamari with a subtitle of 'Global Terrorism' might be a better name. My girlfriend has already completed this game, I'm just getting started

Mystery Dungeon Shiren the Wanderer

Crikey, this game is hard! My first foray into Shiren's world met with disaster when I was at Level 8. I ploughed on too far too early and met an untimely demise at the hands of three Skull Mages. Back to first village at Level 1 with no items. Tragic! Since this debacle I've managed to get a little further, up to Level 9 (!) and then been pummelled yet again. Right now I'm working my way through the puzzle dungeons so that I can acquire some equipment to prevent my fate at the hands of Skull Mages again. Difficult it may be, but quite addictive it is too!

Tales of Innocence

Holy s*&%! The production values of this game are through the roof! After Tales of the Tempest on DS I wasn't expecting such a leap forwards in gaming. This game wouldn't look out of place on the PS2 (in fact Abyss could learn a thing or two from the world map) and is now by far the most stunning DS game in my collection. Everything here smacks of quality, from the hi-res anime opening and song, to the huge amount of voice acting, to the beautiful world on offer and brilliant interpretation of the Tales battle system on a hand held. I can already see why Famitsu gave this game 35/40 after such a short period of time with (I only started it today). Surely this game has to get a global release at some point. The game should be perfectly playable to all in Japanese, but I'd love to understand the finer points of the story. A game this impressive, especially on the DS, ought to be available to anyone, anywhere.

There are more games that I've recently got, but have had no time to play yet, so maybe I'll update the impressions at some point. These games are Star Ocean The Second Story, Radiata Stories, and Xenosaga Ep I. I've also got some games preordered with the remnants of my birthday money (Summon Night Twin Age and Persona 3 FES) and some in the post, which are Tales of Destiny (remake) and Tales of Destiny 2 on PS2, and Chrono Cross and Final Fantasy Chronicles (for Chrono Trigger) on PS1. I've actually got far too much to do, especially as I was planning on doing another fanzine soon...

Ever since I 'acquired' Tales of Phantasia on the SNES many years ago, I've been hugely fascinated by this awesome RPG series. With Phantasia, I was hooked straightaway with the music, the stupendous graphics and of course the superb battle system. Unfortunately, despite the Tales series having had many releases since the SNES beginnings, having these games on a European system seems an almost flat out 'NO'. Fair enough, Symphonia came out on the PAL GC, and Phantasia finally saw a UK release on the GBA, plus there is Eternia on PSP (and there's Radiant Mythology, but its the weakest of the series), but other than that there has been precious little else for me to get my hands on, and I've spent much time reading countless reviews, eyeballing screenies and so on until finally I did it.

I finally gave in and bought an NTSC PS2, as well as some Swap Discs for use with my fat PS2 (the slim PS2 tools ruin games I tell you!), and have now finally managed to start playing Tales of Legendia and Tales of the Abyss, of which I am 4 and 18hrs into each respectively. Around Christmas I also bought the 2 Narikiri Dungeon games and Summoner's Lineage on GBA. I've also got Tales of Innocence and Tempest on DS (Still working through Innocence) and Tales of Rebirth on PS2 (one hell of a beautiful game, though I need to brush up on my Japanese, which was better 9 months ago - i.e. unemployment time), and now with some birthday money have finally got Tales of Destiny on PS1 hopefully somewhere in the post. Whether or not I've missed anything there, I now have (or will soon have) 13 'Tales of...' games, and unlike my Final Fantasy and Shining series collections, I can see myself easily finishing all of these games (though it'll take some time). They just addict me the moment I turn them on.

I can't wait for Vesperia on 360 and Ratatosk on Wii, praying that they will either reach PAL shores, or in the case of Vesperia will be a region free NTSC version like Lost Odyssey was. I'm also really tempted to pick up a Tales of Phantasia remake on PSP, despite having played the game to death on SNES and GBA formats, I still love returning to it. I'd even like to get a PS1 version of Eternia despite having it on PSP, though maybe the Tales of Destiny remake and sequel on PS2 will come first. I'm sure, like many other Tales fans who import, that I'm doing the chances of future Tales games getting PAL releases no good because the demand sort of disappears when I import the games, but considering the quality of these games, they really should all garner worldwide releases (why certain games in the series haven't left Japan is a mystery to me, but all the more reason to properly learn the language). Here's hoping this will change on this front in the future.

There we go, I've finally added ten pages of the greatest gaming moments I've come across so far in my gaming career. Admittedly it took far too long for me to get that up, but I did use all the spare time I had, which just goes to show how little I really do have.

Anyway, it isn't entirely finished, I plan to spruce up the pages a little bit, add some images, banners etc. I also want to add more to the 'Gaming Moments' feature too, including some games that almost made it in, but would maybe be more suited to a top 20, and also the worst gaming moments - you know, games you really wanted to be good but failed miserably, or a game that is so bad its either funny or genuinely upsetting. We'll see what I get time to do! Oh yeah, and the front page of the site no longer has an Extra Life Issue from May '07!!

Merry Christmas!  I hope you had as good a Christmas as I did. Plenty of time spent eating, drinking and generally being merry, as well as a multitude of brilliant Christmas gifts!

Of course, with the past few days being so hectic I've not really had much time to sit down and take in much of my new belongings, but with another 4 days off work that time should come.  Games-wise I've increased the collection a good bit this Christmas, with Rogue Galaxy and Okami on PS2; Mass Effect, Naruto: Rise of a Ninja, Conan, Project Sylpheed, and Tomb Raider Anniversary on 360; Naruto: Path of the Ninja, Dragon Quest IV and Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker all on DS (though these are still in the post). Plenty of gaming, definitely enough for a new fanzine but whether or not they appear in magazine format remains to be seen. They'll hopefully one day mysteriously appear in review for on here though, especially Okami, which I've only just managed to start playing despite it being out for almost a year, and has already earned it's place in my favourite all-time games: it's just utterly breathtaking to play and watch. 360 night tonight though, haven't even played any of them yet, though I have downloaded the Japanese voice track for the game off Live.

It wasn't just games this Christmas though. Plenty of CDs, anime DVDs, a brilliant watch, practically a new wardrobe and other bits and bobs. It's fair to say that perhaps this has been the most extravagant Christmas I've ever borne witness too and it has certainly been a big surprise. I even managed to earn a decent amount of money before Christmas too and have been able to buy lots of gifts for everyone too.

I've also just seen that as I typed this the website has seen it's 1000th visitor. In the biggest anti-climax of the year, it was me. Great. Still 1000 visitors in a year for a simple fanzine isn't too bad, hopefully I can match that over the next year, a great incentive to add more to the site!

Ttfn

Yep, it's been 10 days since I did anything to the site, I'm really busy at work and out of it, but I've sorted Christmas already! I've even got the Christmas tree up (though Melissa realy has to take credit for 80% of it). Maybe there will be a little calm period at Christmas and just before new year, then mentalness again. I think that it may take some weeks for new reviews to pop up, because with all the stuff I'm doing, I've little time to finish the games I need to review, but they will appear in 2008, so let this be a disclaimer in case I don't get chance to update again before next year!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

So I'm back again. Perhaps some of the changes I've made so far to the site aren't exactly mind-blowing but I'm hoping they are working towards making the site a little more interesting, a little more gaming oriented (more to come on that), and a lot less focused on selling a fanzine, but rather informing. I've a few ideas on things to do with the site, besides adding more reviews to it. I could add a forum if anyone will use it (it'd look a little sad if I just had conversations with myself in there, I'm not that far gone yet :P), I'm tempted to add a news/previews/features page(s) as well so that my fanzine can make the full migration online. I'm still in the ideas stage of course, I'm still at work at lot (I'm there now, but it's lunch I'm not skiving) and the reviews probably aren't going to start appearing en masse for a few weeks. To that end I've decided to put up a few reviews from issues past, some of the better ones, eventually I'll add a lot for archive purposes: I've got about 150 reviews written, so there's a good choice for me on which to add. I may well rewrite some of my earlier reviews though... These reviews should pop up in a couple of weeks, presuming I get some time off at the weekend that doesn't involve driving lessons and general traipsing around town.

Anyway, some info on actual games. I've just ordered Dragon Quest IV on DS from Japan. I know it is in Japanese and a lot of the game might be lost on me, but I've definitely learned enough Japanese to guide me safely through the menus and hopefully locate the next point of call on the map. That I am already familiar with the Dragon Quest game design should help as well. You'll probably know that Square-Enix are also releasing Dragon Quest V and VI on DS too (V is scheduled for a late January 2008 release in Japan!), so hopefully I'll acquire these too, and the idea is to then create a big Dragon Quest feature based on whatever I can get my hands on.

Once again a long while has passed since I did anything visible to the website! And once again I'm here to claim that this will change! Well, it already has in a little way. Thanks to the trials and tribulations of actually doing some paid work these days, my fanzine has been left in a state of flux. It is, of course, still very much alive, but I've had little to no time to actually play enough games through and review them over the last 6 months.

Now I've started to get back on with it. I've removed the shop page (made a grand total of £8 from it!!), I've changed the Collection page to look a little neater, and I'll be adding plenty more in the way of reviews to the online page now I've got a lot more space to play with (the PDF issues really took all my webspace away). I'm also planning on adding a new photo page so I can show off my games collection a little more :)

So that's it for this little blog, but I'll honestly be back soon with more updates, and hopefully a much better website!

Finally. It may have taken six long months, but I have at last found a job, and not only that but it is a place in the Games Industry as a Games Tester! After wasting my time in the Boston Job Center for half a year, it was Lincoln that held the job for me. At least I never really expected to find a job in Boston anyway. After having what can only be described as shite jobs since I've was 13 (Paper Round, Cleaning animals cages at a kennels, Sales assistant positions) I am so relieved to actually get a job in a place where I really want to work it doesn't seem quite true yet! I know I and many other people have probably read horror stories of the lives of Game Testers in Edge and the like, but after my interview my thoughts on wanting to do the job were only reinforced. Several of the people I met were in the same job when I did work experience there almost eight years ago, and they all seemed happy in their positions which is the exact opposite of my comrades from Staples who feel like the job is more of a sentence than a career. I really cannot wait to get started.

This will probably mean a reduced output on my fanzine (and unless you read my profile on Gamespot you probably don't think I've done anything since February. Oh how wrong you are :P), but with my trusty laptop at my side I'm sure I'll at least get a fanzine done every couple of months. If you haven't read the updated front page of the site, I have started to produce DS Issues thanks to absolutely amazing line up of games the handheld has, not to mention the fantastic back catalogue of GBA games. Right now I'm thoroughly enjoying Pokemon Pearl, Etrian Odyssey, Lunar Knights and Final Fantasy Fables, as well as Final Fantasy VI Advance, Tactics Ogre, Castlevania and Summon Night 2. This means that I have plenty to add to a couple of DS games in the future, as well as the games I haven't yet bought, which include Luminous Arc, Ouendan 2, Final Fantasy Revenant Wings and Megaman ZX.

So, although I now have a job, and I've been fanzining it up but not adding it to the site, I will really try and make sure that the next update doesn't take so long to happen. Part of the reason for a lack of new reviews on the site is because I can't afford games! The new games I do have have all been fated to appear in the fanzine as opposed to on the site, so if you really want to hear more from me (yeah, right), you might want to check out my profile on Gamespot (Extra_Life) because this is where al my updates are going these days.

Anyway, 'til the next time!

Yep thats right, after several months of Extra Life being online, I finally got my arse into gear and got the shop up and running. Now, due to some rather irritating size limitations, I can't really provide each and every Issue on the shop page (much as I'd like to...), so I decided to put the first three issues up, as they show the major developments, then add the latest issues. That means I need to add Issue 14 and 15, then get finishing the 16th Issue. They should up soon, so pleeeeeeease buy an issue. The most you can spend here right now is only 250 English pence, it ain't much!

There have been a couple of updates around the site, including several reviews added to the 'Online Articles' page. I'm hoping to get a few more up there in the near future, though perhaps not as many as I'd have liked due to the space limitations. So, my idea is to rotate some reviews once I get to a certain point and list the rest. If theres a review that you'd like to see in future that isn't up on the site, send me a mail or leave a comment and I'll see about getting it to you.

Other news, I'm 24 in less than 2 weeks! Now, when you get older, I was always told that birthdays got less and less exciting, but I'm overflowing with ideas on what to spend any birthday money on. I'd love to import some PS2 games and buy the Swap Magic discs, but I may limit that to just Tales of Legendia. My eyes are largely focused on upgrading my DS to a Black DS Lite, and hopefully I'll have enough for Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, Dragon Quest: Rocket Slime and Bleach DS 2nd. Portable gaming is the way to go if I manage to get a job (can't possibly go without playing something all day).

Anyway, please buy a fanzine, leave a (nice) comment, and enjoy the site!

Well, its not been too long since my last post this time, and there have definitely been some major website additions since then. Take a look at the 'Issues' page, you should find that there is much more on there than there was previously (in case you were unaware, it was a blank page). I've also updated the front page, made a Links page and added a long story about the trouble I've been in on the 'Extra Information' page. Please read it, at least some of it because it took me a looong time to do.

With me doing so much here, I haven't done any fanzine in the last week, other than a couple of page designs. As you may have found out now, I am working on two issues at once, a Soul Blazer/Illusion of Gaia/Terranigma one and a Mana one. I'm also playing Final Fantasy XII which looks like it is going to take up a hell of a lot of my time. Currently I'm about 9hrs into it, with all characters at Lv.11, and its GREAT!!

I'm also very eager to get my 'Online Articles' page filled up with lots of nice reviews. I've made a list of what I want to get done for it:

• Ridge Racer 6
• Prey
• F.E.A.R.
• Rainbow 6: Vegas
• Steambot Chronicles
• Suikoden Tactics
• Yakuza
• NeoGeo Battle Coliseum
• King of Fighters Neowave
• King of Fighters 2002
• King of Fighters 2003
• Yoshi's Island DS
• Viva Pinata
• Kameo
• Shadow of the Colossus
• Dead Rising
• Magna Carta
• Atelier Iris: The Azoth of Destiny
• Wild Arms
• Wild Arms 3
• Wild Arms 4
• Legaia 2
• Rygar: The Legendary Journey
• Project Zero 3
• Lunar Genesis
• Final Fantasy IV
• Deep Labyrinth
• Tales of the Tempest
• Castlevania IV
• Makai Kingdom

Which should be a good enough list for me to be getting on with for the time being. If anyone reading this has any reviews they'd like to submit, please do and full credit will be given!

Oh, and someone, please leave a comment! There have ben nearly 400 visitors here (not all me) and only a handful pof comments. Someone! Say something!

I've been on the site quite often since the last post, but haven't done much in the way making useful additions to the site. Of course I've finished the Issue 15, and the image on the front page of the site will change soon, especially as I've started an Issue dedicated to Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma.

I've added to the Collection page recently, including a great image of my collection, excluding my PC games and peripherals. I have to admit, the collection is much bigger than it was last time I took a pic, and I really wasn't expecting such a difference.

Since my last post, I've lost my job at Game. It was a Christmas Temp job, but thats not the point, as I'm now unemployed, which is really crap. I need a job. I've looked into freelance journalism, and will be pursuing that route once I get my portfolio sorted, this site included.

Hopefully I'll post more often here. I say it al the time, but it may just stick this time. Look forward to more appearing on this site soon! And check out the Online Articles page, where I just uploaded a review of Stella Deus: The Gate of Eternity.

So, once again it has been a while since I last updated the site. I've been around, mostly on www.1up.com, but there is a slight problem in that my PC will not work with the website creation kit, so I'm having to use the Laptop for the site, which is more of a pain than it sounds.

Anyway, December 8 2006 has been and gone, and I now have a Nintendo Wii (soon to be added to the Collection page) with Zelda, Super Monkey Ball, Wii Sports and Play, as well as Donkey Kong Country, F-Zero, Zelda and Mario 64 on the Virtual Console. Reviews of some of these will appear shortly, I'll leave the Wii console review for Issue 16, although you can read the Twilight Princess review on this site (last page) as well as in the mag. Its a big game y'see.

Also, I know that my Issue 15 is late out of the hat. It still isn't finished! No time at all I tells ya. I have finally left Staples though, and I'm hoping that in the short period between now and another job, I may just get the chance to write some work. With all the goings on, erm, going on though, it may yet be a while before I get the Issue finished. It will happen though and it hasn't been forgotten. Jesus, I haven't even got round to making a Paypal account yet. If you want to buy an Issue, please email me on extra_life_fanzines@yahoo.co.uk, there are other Paypal accounts I can use if you are interested, unless you live nearby and have cold, hard cash.

Anyway, I'll get back to work and try and get something done for everyone. Billy, if you read this, sorry about the Small Arms review, I started it but suffered bad writers block and never got back on it.

Sorry

Sorry

...

To many, it may seem a though I gave up on this site as soon as it had begun, such are the lack of updates. As it happens, I just lack time, which is something of a necessity for keeping this site going. Anyway, I've found some time now, and will proceed to update the Collection page, add a little here and there. I'll try and get the shop up in time for the release of my next Issue, which I am currently hard at work on.

One of the reasons for my lack of time by the way, is because I have acquired most of the games that will be reviewed in Issue 16 (well, the DS games anyway) and they are all good. Right now my DS is charging itself for a lengthy play of Final Fantasy III, possibly the best DS game so far... If you like RPGs!

If you ventured onto the site between the date of the last entry and this one, then you may have noticed that I completely changed the look of the site. This looks better, yeah it does. So, today I added part of my collection to the 'Collection' page, added info about me on the last page of the site, tinkered here and there, and somehow had 70+ visitors. Not too shabby for a new site advertised only by me eh?

So begins my new website dedicated to my fanzine. No more using some other site for my own nefarious deeds! A hahaahaahha *cough* Anyway, this page will be used to keep you up to date on the developments in both my fanzine and the gaming oriented aspects of my life. Some other bits may creep in a bit if I feeling particularly rantish.

So, a little about me. I'm a 23 year-old games journalist without an actual paid games journalism job, not that that has stopped me. I've had 2 interviews (for the same job) at Imagine Publishing this year, so I must be doing something right (just not perfectly right at the moment). I own somewhere in the region of 400 games on cartridges, CDs and DVDs etc, and quite a lot of Live Arcade games on the 360. A lot of games to mine for interesting articles anyway. My favourite types of game are usually from Japan and are often RPGs, crazy music games and also have a soft spot for the DS.

I work two jobs, one in Staples (a place I can't seem to escape from) and a Xmas temp job in Game in Boston. Yep, I live in Boston.