Final Fantasy X-2’s soundtrack got slated by pretty much everybody, their Grandma and their unborn child. And let’s not get started on the game itself. Despite having a love / hate relationship with Final Fantasy ever since VIII and really loathing X something chronic – I rather enjoyed X-2 for what it was. Soundtrack and all. Sure, the compositions were not anywhere near as memorable of some of Uematsu’s works on a bad day. But the soundtrack served its purpose and matched the new tone and direction of the game perfectly. But whilst most of the soundtrack was being tossed in the crapper by the masses, the game’s main instrumental theme “Eternity” got shown a lot of love. Probably because it was the only composition in X-2 that sounded like it was actually from a Final Fantasy game.

Listen: Eternity ~Memory of the light and waves

Composed by Noriko Matsueda & Takahito Eguchi
Final Fantasy X-2
© 2003 Square Enix

For the mp3 players: Eternity ~Memory of the light & waves

An alternate version of “Eternity” which has more instrumentations and an R&B vibe going on for it also featured in the game and on its soundtrack. If you aim for the 100% completion and get ‘the band’ back together, they treat you to a performance of this song in Guadaosalam, and you can hear it every time you go back there.

For the mp3 players: Eternity ~Memory of the light & waves (Band member musical performance)

It is only every so often that a game hack comes around that is so brilliant, so glaringly obvious that it boggles the mind why it was never official. Such is the case of this Katamary Damacy trackball mod by Kelly Farrell of the Hacker Collective NYC Resistor. With a little ingenious hardware hacking Kelly managed to control The Prince and his Katamari with a big metal ball placed above some ball bearings.

Why was a custom controller for the game never released is beyond my comprehension. In any case we get an awesome retro hardware mod by a very tallented hacker girl, what else can we ask for?

[Kellbot / Via Offworld]

Tekken used to be known for its awesome soundtracks. Take note of the words ‘used to’. Tekken 1 and 2 had great soundtracks. Tekken 3’s was a bloody masterpiece. And then shit went horrendously wrong with Tekken 4. I’m not sure whether key players of the Tekken 3 soundtrack were fired, or if they had mid life crisis’ which head shot their creativity. But something went seriously wrong with Tekken 4’s soundtrack. Game 5 brought things back a little. It was still far from the greatness of what Namco had brought to the table before – but the soundtrack did yield some gems.

One song in particular caught my ear in Tekken 5’s soundtrack, and that was the theme for the Moonlit wilderness stage. It was funky, it was epic and full of awesome. One of the most grandiose and melodic pieces to grace a Tekken game. Fitting, given that it featured on what I felt was one of the series’ best and most ominous looking stages.

I have my fingers crossed that Tekken 6’s soundtrack see’s the audio on top form. I’ve played the game in arcade, but I can barely hear anything. You lot know what it’s like.

Listen: Moonlit wilderness

Tekken 5
© 2004 Namco

For the mp3 players: Moonlit wilderness

The PS2, much like the Madden franchise, refuses to die. Only unlike with Madden, its a good thing! Furthermore the PS2 has just been given a nice price cut to $99 USD, which coupled with music games and JRPGs still coming out for the console will ensure many more years of its existence.

However Sony believes the PS2 will be the gateway to owning a PS3. John Koller, Director for Hardware Marketing at Sony said to Ars Technica that they’ve "found that almost 80 percent of PlayStation 3 owners either currently own or have in the past owned a PlayStation 2, so that statistic on its own speaks volumes". That’s some hardcore deductive power right there guys!

I’m sorry but I dont see a $99 console bought to play Guitar Hero making people buy a $400 dollar PS3. Just as much as I dont see soccer moms who bought the Wii to play Wii Fit ‘graduating’ to an Xbox 360, as Microsoft has stated in the past. Mr. Koller, that most PS3 owners had a PS2 does not mean most PS2 owners will buy a PS3. Just as much as me making a bitter Playstation post does not mean all my Playstation posts are bit… ok I’ll give you that one.

[Ars Technica]

What do you get when you mix 2-parts RPG with 1-part adventure and 4-parts multiplayer party game? You get Dokapon Kingdom: a unique title that sets out on a quest to surprise gamers of all ages by raising the bar on the party game genre.

Without question Dokapon Kingdom is definitely a unique game. Its as if developer Sting decided to play the part of Dr. Frankenstein and began to lop off the best bits and pieces from the gaming universe; a little from genre A, a little from genre B and little from genre C and then proceeded to fuse them all together. The end result is a cute and colorful title that is sure to provide you with hours upon hours of entertainment and laughter.

So if you feel like kickin’ some serious monster butt, humiliating your soon to be ex-friends and hording ridiculous amounts of gold as you spin your way to victory then follow me as we hack-n-slash our way through Dokapon Kingdom.

Read more!

According to Siliconera and some recent Play-Asia listings, Odin Sphere, Okami, and Disgaea: Hour of Darkness will all join the Playstation 2 Greatest Hits line, selling for $19.99 US each. The irony here is that Okami and Odin Sphere didn’t sell very well at all in the US, but it’s awesome that they’re reprinting the titles again and lowering the prices.

I am most definitely going to pick up Odin Sphere when I see it in stores again, as I missed the chance earlier and haven’t had much luck finding it locally for some time. All of these new editions should be out in September.

[Siliconera]

Feels good, man. I honestly wouldn’t have expected anything less (or more, for that matter) from the latest installment in a series that’s always delivered the hardcore goods. The graphics have gotten a nice touch-up since the last installment on PS1, sporting lots of fancy transparency effects.

The triumphant return of the deadly Free Range weapon brought a smile to my face, and there appear to be some additions to the old arsenal: some crescent-shaped bullets showed up, as well as a multi-pronged beam that spouted out from all sides of the ship.

There are also some bosses that look very similar to the ones found in Thunderforce V, like the purple sea dragon. I’ll be looking forward to this title, although there’s still no word of a stateside release. It’s coming to Japan October 30th for the PS2.

[Siliconera]

Technosoft had been bought out in the past, but is now reforming and is planning to develop and release Thunder Force VI for the Playstation 2 (yes, games are still coming out for the damn thing). A few screenshots from Famitsu are already available. As you can see, it looks quite familiar, even down to some of the interface details and weapons.

The game will be coming out in Japan on October 30. Right now there’s no rumors indicating the possibility of seeing it on other platforms, and we don’t know if it’s coming to the US or not (if so it should be a fairly quick localization job). I enjoyed V on the PS1 and hadn’t expected a sequel at all, so this is quite a pleasant surprise.

[Siliconera]

DDN: All JRPGs, all the time. But seriously, there’s just been an amazing amount of news on the genre this summer. But while you’re waiting for the next big thing to be released (Disgaea 3, Infinite Undiscovery, Final Fantasy XIII, Tales of Vesperia, Valkyria Chronicles, and a boatload more!) you can kick back with some reprints of some arguably great games from the last generation you may have missed…

According to Destructoid, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga, AR Tonelico: Melody of Elemia, and Disgaea: Hour of Darkness are all being reprinted (or in some cases re-reprinted?). Both Shin Megami Tensei games are available at Play-Asia, and both NIS games are available at Rosenqueen. I’ve missed almost all of these games, so I should probably get while the gettin’s good! And you should too.

[Destructoid]

Don’t you just love Atlus? With Persona 4 just days away from a JP release, they’re teasing us by putting up an onsen (hot springs) peeping game.

While my lack of knowledge of the Japanese language prevented me from understanding the mechanics of the game, this Nicovideo link (you’ll need an account to watch) of said web-game got me intrigued. To those who hope to see some skin (if you know what I mean), I’m sad to say that the game seems to be relatively worksafe, aside from girls wrapped in towels and wearing bikinis.

As of now, it is still unconfirmed whether this mini-game will be included in the actual PlayStation 2 game or otherwise. While some of us might feel that it would be a brilliant idea, I wouldn’t get my hopes up too high.

[Sankaku Complex]