Stanfords Finest

As a poor student I once was marooned in Chester for a summer. This being the grim naaarth I had nowt to do but wander the streets entertaining myself with only a black and white Gameboy for company. I would go into the second hand shops and buy random carts in the hope that one would throw up some kind of classic gaming action. Alas, it wasn’t to be and all were complete and utter rubbish. As the Gameboy was almost an obsolete format at this time there were many carts to choose from and I placed myself in the shoes of somebody who had say 30 quid to spend on one game and how they would view their purchase. When I get the same game for pounds then I have a different perspective and I can more or less throw the thing away when I discovered how bad it was whereas if you save all month for the same title you stick with it in the hope it’ll get better. Tenchu: Dark Secret on the DS is one of these games. I am sure there are people that have bought this (for a reputed $50 in the US) and are persevering with it hoping it will get better but they would be kidding themselves. I love a stealth-em-up like the next man and have always had a yearning to play this on the PS but I never got round to it so I was pleased when it arrived on the DS. The PSP version looks very good indeed (more-or-less a straight port I think) so I was hoping for good things. (more…)

What is the best game in the world ever? Any fule will have a story to tell but I tell thee this and you should believe me when I say that Advance Wars Dual Strike is the best game ever made. Ever. Yes, there is this game and that game but for sheer depth, replayabilty and addictiveness nothing else really comes close. I lost my PSP on the plane to Bangkok last Christmas which is a lesson to anyone thinking it is a good idea to get pissed up in the free bar in business class – there is a downside mine being that my broken PSP is now in the hands of some poor air stewardess and her family. Fair play to them and that broken piece of shit. Enjoy. Anyway, being as I was now gameless I had few options open to me in the ‘’portable gaming’’ stakes – was it to be another PSP or back to the DS that I had run down on these pages little under a year ago? Well, seeing as my main criteria was PORTABLE gaming then there was really only one choice – a DS. Say what you like about the graphics and games when it comes to practicality and portability then DS is the only choice. My PSP broke after too much travel because the widdle drive cannot take any kind of stick and had bust and the more I think about it the more I can see the PSP is a rushed prototype that I am sure will be much better than the first incarnation once the PSP2 is launched in the future. Also, in my defence I did have the original DS and the new model is very sexy and small and so damn practical. All this plus the ability to zipped .nds files from the interweb via the R4 card. Lovely jubbly. By the way the PSP is the same price as DS here so there were no financial constraints here only gaming and practical reasons for the purchase. (more…)