Dan

Whoa, how did I miss hearing about this? I was hoping that ZX would become a series. I'm a little wary of both the totally new characters and an Axl based Biometal, though. I still don't understand the X7 hate. Aside from not being completely 2D, is there something else people hate so much about it?

It's disappointing that a really great story's going to end up as a mediocre game at best. Movie cash-ins are good at killing what could've been great game ideas.

It'd be nice to see GameTap get some more original content. I kind of got roped into it, being a hardcore Myst fan; I was prepared to pay the same amount I'm paying now just for an Uru Live subscription, anyway, so it didn't work out too bad for me. That client is a pain, though. I'm often leery of trying out the more resource intensive games on GameTap becuase the client is sucking up so much already. It'd be nice if they offered a lighter client without all the fancy 3d menus and such.

I really should get around to getting DEFCON. I loved Uplink and Darwinia, I've even got the little keychain Darwinian from the box version by my computer.

I'm glad I got my Diamond pre-order in early, I'm fairly confident I'll be able to get a hold of one. I should probably put in a Pearl pre-order for my girlfriend too, now.

@boot
I think a DS Lite is $130 here, and a regular DS is something like $100 or $110. Games are generally $35.

I think Wi-Fi connection lets you play with anyone, but I'm not positive. the new Pokemon games let you play internationally, but I've never tried with other Wi-Fi games, so I can't be sure. Bear in mind that there are relatively few Wi-Fi games out there, most of them only allow for local multiplayer.

The only real difference between the original DS and the DS Lite is that the Lite is smaller, and has a brighter screen. I don't think the difference is really worth upgrading for, but if you don't have a DS already, it's worth the extra $20 or so to get a Lite.

I'm bummed at the Slavic legends bit. There were pretty strong indications that this was going to be a Lovecraft Mythos game, and it looked like a great one at that.

@Daevrojn: Do you really think they wanted to bother with right of way for a single fencing lesson? Saber fencing is closer to cavalry saber fighting than the piratey flavor anyway.

They gave the new Sonic 30, and Gundam Crossfire a 32. If those weren't bought, then I question the sanity of Famitsu's authors.

So, "operating synergies" is code for "Rhino will be run exactly like Gamestop now", right? So lower trade-in values, higher used game prices, pushing preorders and that worthless rag game informer, and the used game sections for everything older than PS2/GC/Xbox will disappear? So much for the only game chain that didn't comepletely suck around here.

I really hope this is false. Rhino is the only decent game store in town (the chain is actually based out of here). They're also the only place I know of that still sells games for systems older than PS2/Xbox/GC (even the Gamestops/EBs that sell PS1 games shove them into a corner unorganized.)