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I first discovered Fish Tycoon not on the Nintendo DS, but on the internet, as a shareware game. The “real-time” raising and breeding of fish stirred an interest in me because of the uniqueness of the theme. Also, it reminded me of my off-campus college days when I started an aquarium and, for a long time, raised, bred and occasionally even sold fancy-tailed guppies. I became very good at selecting guppies to cross-bred to come out with unique tail designs.

So a game that lets me relive that without all the mess, fuss and an open package of brine shrimp stinking up my freezer held a lot of appeal. I loved the game on PC because it was cheap, addictive and fun. And the real-time promise was pretty spot-on; depending on your speed settings, you could leave the game for a day and your fish would still be thriving if a bit hungry. The graphics were dated but sharp. And the game never required too much of you in any one setting.

That’s where the Nintendo DS version falls short by comparison. Although the touch-screen feature is incorporated well into the game, for some reason the DS doesn’t handle the “real-time” thing very well. While reviewing the game, I had a busy weekend where I played the game briefly Saturday morning and couldn’t get back to it until around noon on Sunday.

Every single one of my fish was dead; I was wiped out, even though I had set the game to half-speed. That’s just messed up and certainly not reflective of the original PC game. To make matters worse, the graphics on the DS look markedly worse than the admittedly-dated PC graphics. And we all know the DS is capable of better than what is on display here graphically.

That said, there are literally hundreds of fish types to breed, raise and sell in the game, and plenty of items for you to acquire and manage in your tanks as you enjoy the highs and lows of fish breeding. So there’s no lack of game depth.

In the end, though, the sloppiness of the graphics and the poor execution of the “real-time” code just kind of ruin the experience on DS. While Fish Tycoon is a long-time “casual gaming” favorite, I simply cannot recommend the DS version; the PC version has the same shareware price, looks better, and plays the way it is supposed to – in real time.

I was one of the first people in line to buy the original Final Fantasy Tactics for PSone, back when the first version of this game was released. I was more intrigued by and excited about the title than the game everyone else had been anticipating that had landed a few months earlier, Final Fantasy VII. I think at the time, the steampunk influences of Final Fantasy VII were a bit of a turnoff for me (I eventually came ‘round), but the original FFT simply had a more traditional feel; it was more the sort of traditional sword and sorcery style of game I wanted from an RPG at that time.

Despite a “so awful it’s funny” localization that rendered some plot elements incomprehensible, and an incredibly high difficulty level, Final Fantasy Tactics became a long-standing personal favorite of mine and still ranks as one of my Top 5 PSone games of all time. Simply put, it was a dream-come-true title.

Of course, I was pleased to see a whole subgenre of Tactics-style RPGs emerge from the popularity of that title, and while it’s still somewhat of a niche RPG subgenre, it’s now a well-populated one. About the only complaints I’ve had over the years about Final Fantasy Tactics is that the game was on PSone and took so bloody long to play, I could never finish it.

Finally, after a decade of devotion, SquareEnix as released a “remix done right” version of Final Fantasy Tactics for the PSP system. I call it a remix done right because Final Fantasy Tactics is far more than a straight port of the PSone classic onto PSP. There is a surprising amount of new content.

How much is new? Well, let’s start with the crappy localization. GONE! AT LAST! This time around, the script reads well, as though written by someone to whom English was not a fifth or sixth poorly-studied language. And while the game seems just a bit too fond of certain King Jamesian archaic phrases, for the most part the script is readable, comprehensible and even witty in places.

OK, so the game is more pleasant to read. But that’s not all. A considerable amount of new story elements have been added in the form of FMV story segments. Pulled off in some gorgeous animation that honors the original character designs but brings some new style to the game – think animation with some cool texturized colors that make it look like it was drawn in colored pencil and pained in watercolors. Add that the story segments fill in some of the blanks in the storyline, humanizing the characters, and what already was considered to be one of Square-Enix’s best stories ever told improves even more.

There are also some new items added to the mix, new characters (including a cameo by Vaan from Final Fantasy XII), new storylines and twists, and just a lot more than I expected in order to make this more than just a replay of the same game from 10 years ago.

Don’t go in thinking it’s all-new, though; this is still Final Fantasy Tactics, the original, even with all the new bells and whistles. The vast majority of the changes are wonderful; but not all the changes work as well. Need an example? OK.

One of the big drawbacks of the game being redesigned to play on the PSP is that the little tavern missions have been redone. In the PSone original, these were missions you could send your lower-level characters off on in order to help them level up more quickly. They’d be gone from your party for a number of days, and then you could pick them up at a guild, to collect a report of their success and also a reward if your party member did succeed at the task.

This time out, those missions are extra battles and you get to play them out rather than having them happen off-screen and receiving a second-hand report of the action. Instead, you must – and I mean MUST – find an online opponent or companion in order to make use of them at all. This is annoying because it’s not easy to always find someone who is online with their PSP, playing Final Fantasy Tactics at the same time you are, and ready and willing to agree to mutual terms. It’s not as simple a matching process as sports games are.

Even so, I could tolerate the online awkwardness if these side missions could also be completed the traditional way. That’s not an option, though. It’s play ‘em out online or don’t get access to those missions at all. This is not wise design.

The bottom line for me, though, is that having Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions released and remixed and available on a portable platform is indeed a wish come true. I’ve always loved FFT and other Tactics-style RPGs that have followed since, and my only complaint has been that they all take 100s of hours to beat, which is just not always practical on a home console system. Now that it’s on my PSP Slim, I can play it in bits and pieces throughout my day and really make progress in the game.

Anyone who doesn’t think Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions isn’t worth owning just doesn’t like RPGs. Along with Jeanne d’Arc and Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness, this year has been OWNED by PSP, especially the second half of 2007. The PSP is hot again, and, at least for me, Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions is a big part of the reason why.

One of the best things Atari ever did with the Dungeons and Dragons license after splashing onto the PC scene with the Baldur’s Gate series was to create its spiritual successor, the original Neverwinter Nights, which not only offered epic storylines in the package, but a robust set of tools to encourage user-created adventures and mods so that, quite literally, there’d never be any real reason to stop playing the game.

It worked well, and last year’s upgrade of that PC classic, Neverwinter Nights 2, was long overdue and much welcomed, even though BioWare, creator of the original Neverwinter Nights, had sadly moved on to other ventures, including the recently released Xbox 360 blockbuster, Mass Effect.

The first expansion to Neverwinter Nights 2 continues Atari’s fine tradition of long-term support of the series. Mask of the Betrayer contains an all-new, full-length adventure that basically picks up where the previous adventure left off, with your party trapped in a underground cavern, sitting at around Level 18, and wondering what happens next.

The story, which is richly realized, especially by PC RPG standards, is an entertaining one, though I can’t say too much about it without giving up tons of spoilage and, well, we wouldn’t want that now, would we? So let’s just say that the fine storytelling standard of the first game does not go missing here.

While there are graphical tweaks and lots of new objects in the game, there’s no real graphic upgrade to speak of, which is done to ensure that mods created by anyone using the Neverwinter Nights 2 toolkit will be able to be played by anyone else playing the same game. So don’t expect a new leap forward in graphics until Neverwinter Nights 3 starts being a gleam in Atari’s eye, sometime around 2010 or beyond.

One aspect that is nice about this game is that you get to explore a completely different neck of the Forgotten Realms woods; the game takes place an entire continent away from good ol’ Neverwinter. That frees the developers up to add new monsters, new races, new classes and yet maintain an internal consistency to the Neverwinter Nights 2 universe.

The presence of more puzzles and mysteries to be solved helps diversify the game play a bit more this time out; sometimes in D&D games, combat is the first and primary option for resolving anything, which makes sense given that the franchise’s name is not Pleasant Conversation and Dragons. Even so, it’s nice to see some diversity brought to bear on how one spends their time in the game world.

Overall, Mask of the Betrayer is a fun adventure in and of itself and adds a lot to the arsenal of the “create it yourself” crowd that keep so many of the rest of us playing this game endlessly. Nearly every expansion pack for the Neverwinter Nights and Neverwinter Nights 2 series has been a must have. This is no exception.

You can tell when a series like Smallville is winding toward its ultimate resolution. When the show began back in 2001 – the same season 24 premiered – they made viewers some specific promises. No capes. No costumes. No flying. Just plenty of the human story of Clark Kent, the Superman-to-be coming into his own. A peek behind what made him and those around him who they were.

Actually, Smallville was sort of the second pitch of its kind entertained by the then-WB Network. A year before, a series pitch had set Internet message boards ablaze that promised a very similar treatment of Bruce Wayne/Batman. Whether the deemed the show too dark, or whether it was because the Chris Nolan-directed Batman film was already in pre-production or whatever, The WB never greenlit the pilot. A year later, the same “Superman: The Early Years” concept got the go-ahead and became Smallville.

Basically, the show was Dawson’s Creek with superpowers and the element that soon became the show’s signature was the unique early friendship – which everyone knew was doomed – between a young Clark Kent and his rich pal, Lex Luthor. Seeming to remember the central lesson of all comic books, and the M. Night Shyamalan movie Unbreakable, the show reformulated the Superman mythos so that the two men destined to become the bitterest enemies would start out as friends.

In season six of Smallville, that friendship is now in tatters as Lex is evolving into the villain he is destined to become, and the shows creators are having fun bringing foreshadows of his future into his present. The biggest addition this season was the casting of the Oliver Queen hero Green Arrow, who played prominently in forming a nascent version of the Justice League of America, something mentioned only as a insider joke in season five when Aquaman was featured and was attempted to be launched as a spinoff show, Mercy Reef.

During the season, there was some talk of a JLA spinoff show, but it came to nothing. Still, all the fireworks provided comics fans so serious thrills over the course of the season as Smallville began to look a bit more like a comic book and a bit less like Dawson’s Creek. But a sense of the series winding down continues to hang over the show.

With the Justice League formed, the Clark-Lex friendship beyond repair, Johnathon Kent long dead from season five and Supergirl headed into the picture in season seven, there are serious questions about how much longer the show can go on and maintain its roots; most of the show now takes place in Metropolis rather than Smallville and it just plain feels like the season that comes after this collection, this year’s season seven, could be our final ride, unless the WGA Strike messes things up.

This full-season collection has all the requisite special features one has come to expect from such things; there are episode commentaries, though unfortunately usually by writers and directors rather than Tom Welling, Michael Rosenbaum, Kristin Kreuk, Allison Mack and the like. Those are the people most series fans want to hear comment on a favorite episode.

Personally, I would have enjoyed more behind-the-scenes features, but the scattering found here is better than nothing. Then again, I’m usually all about the special features when it comes to collecting series on DVD.

Unfortunately, too many of the special features found in this season collection were actually available on the CW Web site for the show during the season and are only being collected here, rather than being original content in and of itself. Of course, for those folks who don’t subscribe to Verizon Wireless, some of this content will at least seem completely new.

Whether facing off with Phantom Zone creeps or rescuing Lana from a fire while trapped behind fire glass, this collection is a solid addition for series completists. However, while the show is still entertaining, the days when the opening strains of Remy Zero’s “Save Me” really stirred emotions are indeed starting to fade. It’s been a good run; let’s hope they end it classy and before the show really starts to go downhill.

One thing that’s great about NBA 2K8 on the Xbox 360 is that it’s always easy to find an online opponent. After playtesting for review Sony’s NBA 08 on PS3 and finding the online lobbies almost always vacant, it was a relief to get into what is arguably the best NBA videogame on the market for several years running, 2K Sports’ NBA 2K8.

Sure, EA Sports partisans will argue in favor of NBA Live 08, but EA has treated its pro and college basketball games like some pig farmer’s boot heel for some time now. I mean, the company still hasn’t implemented something as simple as linking the college and pro games via draft files last I checked; how simple is that? As simple as installing car spoilers, really; simpler, even!

Pretty simple for NBA 2K8, for which something that basic is a given, so that their energy goes into more critical improvements. This year, team chemistry is a theme, and considering some of the team chemistry blowups we’ve witnessed in the real NBA, like Marbury and the Knicks, Bryant and the Lakers, and before the season started, Garnett and the Wolves, it’s a wonder that this element was given short shrift for so long.

Keeping all the player egos in check is a key to success in the single-player franchise mode; if players start becoming discontent, you can see the results more noticeably on the court this season. That’s nice because although a lack of production may frustrate some gamers who want arcade-style thrills, those seeking more realistic performances and results will not be disappointed.

Back this season is my main man, Kevin Harlan, heading up the announce duties; this man IS the voice of the NBA for me, since he cut his teeth calling Wolves games on KFAN AM 1500 in Minneapolis, back in the pre-Kevin Garnett days. 2K Sports is wise to keep him on for another season.

On the court, the physics are solid and even the online play via Xbox Live seems a bit smoother this year. I’ve run into a lot more “good sportsmanship” types this season than last year and, thankfully, a lot fewer “quit if they start losing” types. The graphics are a marginal upgrade at best, though, since the developers seem to have put more energy into other aspects of the game, such as refining the franchise mode, working on new online play features, and getting animations smoother, rather than a general detail-level upgrade graphically.

While the game is always fun to play, in all candor there’s not a revolution going on with this game, this time out. The game is a solid upgrade over last year’s version, but doesn’t introduce anything world-changing. If that’s enough for you as an NBA fan, NBA 2K8 is still the cream of the pro hoops crop this season on any gaming console. (And no, I’m not counting text-sims on PC like Wolverine Sports’ Draft Day Sports: Pro Basketball, which is in an entirely separate category.)

Billed by Sony as “the next generation in dark fantasy games,” Folklore, like so many action platformer games, tried to bill itself as an action RPG but the truth is the game more honestly has more in common with Rachet and Clank than it does with Final Fantasy XII. Although filled with gorgeously detailed graphics, the designers sometimes went overboard in artistry and didn’t think enough about legibility for game elements like the bits of dialog that have to be read on-screen instead of being spoken.

The game has two playable characters, a young blonde girl named Ellen, and an older male character, a journalist named Keats. Both end up traveling to Doolin, Ireland and entering a dark fantasy world where they must fight individually, and ultimately together, to survive in a world filled with monsters known as Folk.

Sounds a bit more intriguing than it becomes in execution, however. The unique gameplay element is supposedly how you defeat monsters using the motion-sensing SixAxis controller. Basically, after beating them down to where they are stunned, you rip their souls out of their bodies by … waving the SixAxis up and down. A lot. Not as innovative as it sounds, and it grows kind of boring and repetitive, fairly early on.

The story is somewhat interesting; Ellen is searching for her dead mother, which draws to mind the plot set-up of Silent Hill 2, while Keats is tracking down a lead springing from a call by a mysterious woman. While such is the stuff true dark fantasies like Silent Hill are made of, Folklore is far less dark, belonging more to the world of Papa Smurf than to the living dead. And while it’s a nice framing sequence, the story just isn’t all that deep or intriguing once they toss you into the game itself.

As for depth, there are over 100 creatures to encounter in the game, which plays out over seven different realms. The real problem is repetition and tedium; once the novelty of the game’s battle system wears off – which happens quickly – you are able to step back and realize just how simplistic the combat actually is, which destroys the charm. There is also not much in the way of minigames, such as Mizuno golf or fishing or anything like that, which keeps the focus too much on the maps and areas which respawn enemies at a rather annoying rate of frequency.

It’s too bad some of the lovely graphics are adorning such a gameplay- and story-lacking package. The look of the game itself is well done if a bit polished and idealisitic, but it gives one a solid idea of what can graphically be achieved on the PlayStation 3. While I’m certainly awaiting even better examples, like White Knight Story, Silent Hill 5, and Final Fantasy XIII, Folklore is at least an eye-catching showpiece.

Unfortunately for gamers, it’s not much more than that.

I had a chance to try an iPod Touch first-hand recently. Basically an iPhone without the phone, you don’t need great cell reception in order to take full advantage of the device; it works off any wireless network for some of its online features, rather than a cell network.

The design of the iPod Touch is revolutionary and fun, but it reminds me an awful lot of the Nintendo DS. Which raises the question: could videogames merge into the iPod design in a more full-scale way, eventually?

For two generations of hardware now, the same three companies have dominated the platform wars: Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft. But such standardization is rarely maintainable. Some new company always comes along and tries their hand at things rather successfully, upsetting who the “big three” are in any given generation.

Sony was that company when they introduced the original PlayStation. Microsoft stepped up when Sega fell off.

Could Apple be the next corporation to wet its toes in the videogame market?

I can imagine it: a handheld system with HD-quality video, touch controls, an FM tuner, the ability to act as a personal organizer, a full-scale MP3 and MP4 player, with wireless internet and an optional phone feature, all in a size that slips into a Blackberry-sized cell phone holster.

The name?

Apple iPlay.

It could happen…

As Hollywood writers prepare to strike, one has to wonder why creators in the arena of electronic entertainment have never camped out in a canvas tent outside of Electronic Arts or Activision or some other big-name videogame producer with a bunch of protest signs, asking for a bigger stake in the profits of franchises like Madden, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid or the Spider-Man games.

Is it because the videogame industry is a complete delight to work for with ideal working conditions and everyone’s rich beyond their wildest dreams? I doubt it.

I suspect part of the reason is that writers in electronic entertainment may not be unionized. Are videogame translators, script-writers, localizers and the sort even allowed into the Writers Guild of America?

Frankly, I don’t know.

But considering some of the rumors of 20-hour shifts, conditions that expect creators to live, eat and sleep in developers’ studios when on deadline and other such working conditions, it would be a surprising oversight by the WGA not to at least attempt to protect the scribes who bring us Silent Hill and Resident Evil.

Is there a benefit to the WGA potentially not having a presence in the vidoegame industry? Sure; no chance of a strike if there’s no union.

Then again, the way the industry tends to gobble up and spit out scribes, often leaving them in poor health from overworked conditions, uninsured and sometimes blamed for games that flop, well… maybe a bit more WGA presence in the industry wouldn’t be such a horrible thing, either.