VideogameVagabond.com

The next big game release my wife and I are looking forward to that will qualify as a “must have right away” title is Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. The first PS3 Prince of Persia was a revelation for us both, and a game we both played through to the end more than once. We even bought the four-hour expansion from PSN.

But now, the follow up to that title is only about six weeks away and I’m jazzed, though not to the point of needing a pulse oximeter or anything. But excited? You bet.

Really, the big appeal beyond the gorgeousness of the game is the appealing storytelling of the relationship between the prince and the princess. Sure, it’s pure Disney’s Aladdin stuff, but it works for me, OK? And it’s one of a select group of action games that I genuinely enjoy as much as even my favorite RPGs.

I’m not the world’s fastest gamer. At 43 and counting, I doubt I’m the world’s fastest anything. But I have made it about six to 10 hours into FFXIII and I’m still impressed by the 1080p level of detail (thanks, SquareEnix!), the appealing characters and the patient storytelling.

Rather than explain everything up front before things get rolling, FFXIII moves you into some action right away. Sure, it’s not free-roaming exploration until about 15 hours in… so I’m getting there soon… but it is a way to get the player into battling and leveling up right away while doling out the story in smaller, bite-sized doses.

Massive story sequences and long waits between save spots have been a long-standing complaint I’ve had about SquareEnix RPGs, so I’m pleased to see someone listened… especially since I know I’m not the only one with this complaint. It’s practically a Symbol LS2208 among those in the know.

Plus, I have to say I’m overjoyed that, this time out, I am far more involved in the battles than I was when playing Final Fantasy XII on PS2. If I want to see a movie, I’ll see a movie; I play games in order to feel involved in the outcome. Thanks also, SquareEnix, for recognizing that and responding to this not-infrequent complaint in which I’ve not been alone.

Final Fantasy XIII is to Final Fantasy XII what Windows 7 is to Windows Vista…

I recently picked up the almost-full-priced expansion to Dragon Age: Origin… Awakening. I was a bit shocked at the sticker price: $40 for something that doesn’t seem to add much more than some $5-$8 expansions I’ve bought through PSN. Of course, at least those one could play right away; Awakenings is designed for high-level players who’ve finished the first game and its expansions and want to continue on for another 20-30 hours.

I guess it’ll be fine, though I still wish whiny developers would get off their butts and design 1080p games for 1080p systems. Now that my wife and I have a 1080p set, we’d really like a few titles that actually take advantage of it… otherwise I’d be better off spending my time on a bumbleride indie twin.

This weekend, my wife and I decided to get Final Fantasy XIII. It wasn’t an easy decision because there are so many titles we’d love to own on the market right now, including Uncharted 2, White Knight Chonicles, Heavy Rain, and before too long, they’ll be joined by Dragon Age: Awakening and Prince of Persia 2.

That’s a rich selection of titles to choose from, but Final Fantasy XIII was certainly a top priority. And as one of the few games lazy developers have actually gone to the trouble of making in 1080p resolution, Final Fantasy XIII stands out from the crowd with its sheer True HD level of detail and gorgeousness.

Any sales person who tells you that, short of a 50-inch screen, no one can tell the difference between 720p and 1080p needs to start a job search in a new line of work; 1080p shows up in brilliant clarity on our 32-inch screen just fine, thanks.

While I’m too early on in the game to comment much, I will say that I love the new battle system, which is much more involving than the one found in Final Fantasy XII, four years ago.

The long long wait is finally over: Final Fantasy XIII is now on store shelves… assuming stores can keep the product well-stocked.

I don’t care whether you play on Xbox 360 or PS3, whether you wear urban clothes or dungarees, this is a great week to be an RPG fan… or heck, a gamer of any stripe.

I don’t know exactly how, but I do want to find a way to get this game, and soon. Time for some budgeting. I’m sure with a nip here and a tuck there, I can figure out a way… I hope. Money’s tight.

It may not be an app-savvy Touch, but I’m loving my purple 16 GB Apple iPod nano. Sure, it lacks the gaming feature, but it has plenty of room for stuff, is great for music and radio, and even gives me a camera I can vlog with.

Who could ask for more? Sure, it doesn’t surf the net like the Touch… so you can’t use it for a Philadelphia job search, but hey… that’s what my computer is for. I bought a music player to play music and audiobooks, primarily, not to give me driving directions and such.

My nano suits me just fine.

March 9, 2010. It’s a date many are anticipating with great fervor, because the first Final Fantasy main-series release will be unveiled that day… now only five days away. It took 23 years since the release of the first Final Fantasy, and thirteen titles to reach this day, but is the series finally showing its age?

Nonsense. While SquareEnix has sunk millions into FFXIII’s production, and has even hinted that the series may head in a markedly different direction in the future, the game is as relevant as ever because despite experiments nearly every time out with the character progression system and battle system, the truth is that Final Fantasy has always defined the standard role playing experience on videogame consoles, from the original NES until today.

Sure, some folks will complain that FFXIII is either a sconce too old school, or too new-school for those who loved the previous outings, but Final Fantasy has never really been all that staid; the series has thrived on experimentation.

So, yes, games like Dragon Age: Origins, Oblivion and Fallout 3 may all thrive in open-world settings, but that means little; Final Fantasy has never played follow the leader to someone else’s flute. Don’t expect that to start now.

All that has been released is a game logo, but it speaks volumes; the next videogame featuring Tomb Raider star Lara Croft won’t feature a lot of Tomb Raiding… or at least, it won’t feature that aspect in the title. While loose diamonds may be a girl’s best friend, Lara has always been a more underground sort of gal … in the archeological sense, at any rate.

But the name of the new game only focuses on Lara herself; it’s called Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. Beyond that, no one outside of developer Crystal Dynamics and publisher Eidos knows much of anything, except that the game is expected in 2010 and will be sold via digital download, rather than via retail Blu-Ray disc.

So is it a typical Lara Croft shooter/platformer action and adventure title or something else? We’ll have to wait until the Game Developers Conference next week to find out for sure, at the very least, but here’s what Crystal Dynamics’ Darrell Gallagher had to say about the new title, Lara’s first appearance since Tomb Raider: Underworld in 2008:

“This is a really exciting project for Crystal Dynamics, we have created something completely new and very different to what people might be expecting. Lara Croft is such an iconic character in videogames, with Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light we have created what we believe is a truly original digital experience.”

This weekend, mine was one of millions of fat PlayStation 3′s that became neigh-well unusuable for over 24 hours when the PlayStation Network refused to allow any sign-ins due to a Y2K holdover issue related to leap year (or the lack of one this year).

My PS3′s date and time were reset to 1/1/1999 and could only be re-set manually. Even after that, one could still not sign in to PSN, and any game that used trophies – even when played offline – were unusable. You couldn’t even sign into the PlayStation Store to shop gifts for Mothers Day … or any other day, for that matter.

Sony’s slow-to-respond response? “Wait for a day or so, and this’ll correct itself.” Yeah, real nice, Sony.

The Error 8001050F incident – or Blackout Sunday, as I like calling it – is not a first for PSN; it occurred in 2008 as well. Sony needs to fix this permanently via a system update so that it never happens again.

Foul us up once, Sony, shame on us. Foul us up twice with the same Error 8001050F? Shame on you.

I had my safety glasses on and I was ready for a firestorm, but so far my Top 20 Videogames of the Past Decade feature hasn’t stirred up much criticism.

I can’t say I’m disappointed; I wasn’t seeking controversy. But I will say I’m surprised. Then again, maybe I just did a better and more competent job at picking out the best games of the past ten years than the Nintendo-kissing fools at Yahoo Games.

Of course, that’s setting the bar pretty darn low.