Deadly rain

This week the US sees bargain bin fodder in Last Rebellion, Heavy Rain, and Deadly Premonition. It may seem odd that I'm not championing Heavy Rain, but I get a very Silent Hill 2 vibe from that game, and as we've just learned, that's not a good thing. It may be a technological circle jerk, but I don't care how immersive your atmosphere is, if your cast of characters look like junior high school teachers, my interest dissipates quite rapidly. Still, it is a game that doesn't take place in space, or star coiffure challenged marines, so I should support it on principal, and I will. When it's $19.99.

Unlike Heavy Rain, Deadly Premonition, or Rainy Woods as it was originally known, or Red Seeds Profile as it is now known, always aspired to be a low-budget release. It was developed for Marvelous Entertainment and will be released across both the PS3 and 360 platforms in Japan, but I guess Ignition got a few bucks from Microsoft to make this one a 360 counter-point to HR in America. I have a feeling this will backfire quite spectacularly. The reviews and comparisons will no doubt be more entertaining than the actual game(s).

Another game that's far more entertaining to talk about rather than play is Metal Slug 7. Released for the Nintendo DS two years ago, re-released with content that was supposed to have been there since day one on the PSP last year in Japan, it will finally see release in America, for some reason, courtesy of Atlus this week. To be perfectly blunt, the last good Metal Slug was the original on the Neo Geo. MS3 was decent fun too, but only because it had silly shit like aliens and giant enemy crabs in it. And zombies. After Nazis, aliens, and zombies, there really aren't too many enemy forces that one can shoehorn into a video game that can offer a fresh perspective on the action genre, except maybe lawyers?

Radirgy Noa, from Milestone/Lucky Co. hits Japan on Thursday. While I'm curious to see how a Milestone outsourced project winds up, I'm not willing to test it on my own skin. I'll wait for some other sucker to go for it.

That's enough for the riffraff. The real deal this week is Cave's latest, ESPGaluda II Black Label hitting the 360 on Thursday in Japan. As I mentioned last week, the standard edition will be region free, while the LE will be region locked. The reason is that Cave actually plays by the rules, and submits their code for certification across all regions where they what the game playable. Also, the way MS licensing works is that LE's are treated as separate versions from standard editions, and require separate certification. Unluckily for those who couldn't be bothered to pick up a J-360, the LE disc couldn't get certification in US/EU before the deadline.

Thursday was also supposed to be the release for No More Heroes Hero's Paradise for the PS360, but that one got delayed. Curses! So instead I bundled Zangeki no REGINLEIV with ESPGaluda II. Box-0-awesome incoming this weekend.

On Friday I get to do some movie shopping. Most importantly, I'll be picking up the Storm Warriors, AKA Storm Riders 2. The original Storm Riders was the very first HK action flick I saw, and is a very important factor in developing my tastes in cinema. It was also a pioneering effort in many areas of action film making, and it will be interesting to see if the original creators can still innovate and inspire the next decade of imitators.

Last and least, I'll be getting Vampire Girl VS Franken-girl. (Why DVD? Whhhyyyyyyy~!?) For the record, it's not because it's from the directors of Tokyo Gore Police. I hate Tokyo Gore Police. It's for Elly Otoguro, who played Aya in Onechanbara. You have to be a little bit crazy to take a role like that, and come back for more. I'll reward her effort, and maybe get some hot girl-on-girl action in the process. Everybody wins.