I LOVE STAR TREK. I love Star Wars, but I LOVE STAR TREK. I love Firefly, but I LOVE STAR TREK. I love Stargate, but I LOVE STAR TREK. When I discovered that the Paramount appointment my darling wife Lindsey had on her schedule for last year’s E3 was primarily for a new Star Trek game, I traded her any of my appointments that she wanted to get my ass in that chair. I can’t recall which appointment I gave up to go see Star Trek, but I’ll tell you this: whatever it was, it was absolutely worth it. Do you know why? BECAUSE I LOVE STAR TREK. Read the full story

I know I probably said this in the last episode (This is Episode 12), as well, but this time I mean it: Marooners’ Talk is returning to a weekly format! WOOO! FANFARE AND APPLAUSE! Today’s episode of Marooners’ Talk, titled “The One Where We Talk About Some Games…And Shit” (so titled because I forgot to think of a title prior to recording) marks episode 13 of our on-again/off-again series, and marks the first episode of a (hopefully) consistent string of weekly recordings. Read the full story

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Nostalgia is a powerful draw for a lot of people. Trying to relive the “good ole days” can  sometimes occupy too much of our time. Sometimes it’s necessary though, and Minis like “Prehistoric Isle” make it easy to remember the days where your progress was measured in quarters spent, and things like plot and motivation never crossed your mind. Read the full story

Square (now a part of Square Enix) was responsible for some of the greatest JRPGs (and, some may argue, RPGs in general) that have ever graced our consoles. Having found both critical and commercial success across a variety of titles including Final Fantasy, Xenogears, Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, and more, there is no denying that Square knew what they were doing, and did it well. Arguably one of their most worthwhile efforts (read as: ONE of their most worthwhile efforts, not necessarily their MOST worthwhile effort) was the sequel to their critically acclaimed Chrono Trigger: a PSX game called Chrono Cross. Now, Chrono Cross has been made available in its PSX form for download on PSN. Read the full story

All of my favorite Final Fantasy games were pre-VII. I don’t really care for VII or the later Final Fantasy iterations; the classic NES/SNES visuals and systems are definitive features of the series for me. The last ditch effort of the original Final Fantasy game spawned a franchise which has grown so strong that even an entry widely regarded as a failure is incapable of damaging interest and fandom in the series as a whole. The simplicity and joy found in Final Fantasy I (for the sake of differentiation), along with the fiendishly difficult lead-up to the final boss battle, is difficult to mimic. Final Fantasy VI (known as Final Fantasy III when released on SNES in North America) took the formula of the original and improved it, so while Final Fantasy I holds a uniquely special place in my heart as my favorite of the series, Final Fantasy VI is the best of the series. Now, the PSX port of FFVI has been made available on PSN. Read the full story

In the early days of console gaming, Japanese RPG’s set the bar for the entire genre, an influence that is still spoken of today. One of the most stunning and ground breaking entries was Chrono Trigger. It took the style of Final Fantasy and crafted a richer narrative with resonant character that stood out from the clichéd knight/mage/thief trappings. The addition of time travel as a mechanic helped to broaden the scope of roleplaying games forever. However, sometimes memory outweighs reality, and our old favorites don’t always shine quite as bright as we like to hope. Read the full story

You know, for the most part, I’m a modifier kind of guy. When I had my 5th Gen Honda Prelude, I upgraded the intake, the springs, the ECU, the sound system, and more. When I got my first iPhone, it was jailbroken post haste, and each iteration has been ever since (going on four years, now). When I buy a computer, it comes in individual pieces that I put together to my heart’s content. I generally don’t go for the out-of-the-box experience, and recently that’s started being the case for consoles as well. Our 250GB hard drive for the Xbox 360S in the other room is third party, and was a third of the price, and I’ve had my eye on a few other third-party peripherals and accessories for quite some time. One thing that came to my attention recently was the Subsonic Pro Controller Fluo for PS3 and PC. Read the full story

Ever since I was a human child, playing a racing game of any sort would see my dramatically tilting, angling, and swinging my controller around as I leaned into turns and weaved around obstacles and competitors. Now, even as a human spawn, I knew that my wild undulations and swaying had no actual effect…but it totally did, so sod off. There were racing wheels, sure, but they weren’t always that great. On occasion, a racing wheel would come out that did a fantastic job at translating my actions onto the screen as accurately as an actual controller. The release of the Subsonic Racin’ Pro PS3/PC steering wheel and chair combo…is not one of those occasions. Read the full story

Disgaea…the name brings up horror stories from my friends telling me about this series that will eat your soul and steal all your time away from you. I never believed them, thinking they were over exaggerating the extent and vast amounts of battles within the game. Up until a few weeks ago, I never played a Disgaea game. Starting with 4 was a challenge in and of itself to be honest. Weirdly seeing as this is my first Disgaea I did not have much to say about it that is bad, and I truly take this as a rarity and a sign that from an outsider this game series is great and rather accessible. (Well, my PS3 controller taking a swan dive on me was about the only bad thing I can think of about this game.) Read the full story

This is it, the main reason I started Batman-month. This is the most anticipated game of the year, and does Rocksteady deliver? Oh yeah.

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