I picked Grim Grimoire today. It’s developed by Vanilla Ware, creators of Odin Sphere, which was the only requirement for me to buy it, really.
I’ve been playing it for a while now. It’s an RTS, which is pretty crazy for a PS2-game, but it offers a cute art style and an interesting story inbetween the missions. The american voice acting is terrible as expected, but thankfully you have the option to switch to the original japanese voices. Instead of using a more conventional top-down view, the “map” is a tower made up of floors, staircases and walls that you view from the side. It’s very different and somewhat monotonous, but it works.
Here’s a video of the gameplay, in case you need to see it to believe it.
Instead of building your base you’re placing “runes” that act as portals to bring in your familiars. Scattered over the map you find crystals that you can harvest for mana, the only resource in the game. There are two types of units, or “familiars”: substance and astral. Astral familiars can only be hurt by other astrals or by non-physical attacks. It offers a somewhat shallow rock-paper-scissor mechanic inbetween the different familiars and this is where the meat of the strategy lies.
I like it.. but I need to pack up my PS2 and ship it to Sweden soon =/
Beginning this august I will have stayed in Singapore for a whole year, save my christmas holiday. I knew very little about this place when I first arrived, but now I know this is a wonderful little spot on the map. The people here are friendly. The culture is rich and it’s been an exciting experience to live in such a big city. I really do love Singapore.
But after all this time I’ve realized that there are some things that I can’t be without and some people I can’t be apart from. Just as I’ve felt I’ve been able to excel in my work, I’ve felt constrained in every other part of my life. Eventually it began to interfere with my work.. and at that point, who benefits?
So a little over a month ago I decided that I had to return home to Sweden. I hinted at this earlier, but today it’s official so I wanted to expand upon it and share my thoughts.
Last week I sat down with Cédric and Steve to explain my situation and discuss the proposition for me to continue working remotely (as a couple of programmers are already doing from France). While not exactly thrilled over the idea of me leaving, Cédric was relieved that I still wanted to stay in the project and Steve had no objections.
I’m so grateful that I’m able to do this and still be able to see this game through. I mean, really. I wouldn’t expect this from any other company.
I’ve been blessed to work along side such great people. Extremely talented and extremely kind. I really wish I could bring all of you with me. You all made this decition extremely hard for me.
As for the specifics, my plane leaves around 7am, August 30th (Singapore time) and I should arrive in Umeå at around 10pm the same day (Swedish time).
So yesterday Sony announced that they will release a new slimmer and lighter version of the PSP. It features twice the amount of RAM as the original model, a more efficient battery and the ability to output to a TV set. Hands-on previews have stated that the D-pad has been improved, which spells good news for Tekken-fans like me.
It will cost the same as the current model ($169, I forget the swedish price) but there will also be a bundle available that includes the silvery PSP, a 1 gig memory stick and the game Daxter for $199. I have to hand it to Sony. That’s pretty darn reasonable and I can see myself getting it.
[Update]
There seem to be some miscommunication regarding the new psp battery and I imagine it will stur some disappointment once the device is actually released. In an interview with Gamespot a Sony representative told them that yes, the device is more power-efficient and you’ll get twice the battery life out of it compared to the old version, and herein lies the juice, but only if you use the old psp battery.
The new battery has been slimmed down to account for the 19% less space, hence it’s not as powerful as the original one. The Sony guy said that with the slim battery you’ll still get the same amount of battery life (~5-7 hours). He also said that they still hadn’t figured out how to fit the larger battery in the slim model, only that it “will stick out”.
[Update #2]
I play a lot of DJMax Portable 2. A lot. To get the best audio experience I use headphones. The headphone jack is located at the bottom left corner of the PSP. This becomes a problem because as when I play the game, the headphone plug digs right into my hand at the base of the thumb. Enough to cause it to cramp up.
The new PSP have moved the jack slightly to the right, so it’s underneath the base of the device. Just enough to keep it out of hands way. I really like that attention to detail.
[Update #3]
It took a while, but people have finally started to catch up with the fact. Let the whining begin!
