Sam & Max Season Finale

『 Xbox 360用HD DVDプレーヤー & ブレードランナー 』

HD DVD is dead. Long live HD DVD! The format war is finally over and we have a winner. Sony had somehow managed to push their BluRay through, and that's a good thing, even though Europe is no longer in te same region as Japan. HD DVD led a short life but still plenty of movies managed to come out all over the world. It's no point in getting a HD DVD player now, one would think. Wrong!


The perfect time for getting a HD DVD player is now. Just think about it. The format is dead, Toshiba stopped all of their production lines and won't be making any new players, there's no market for either the movies or the players, prices went down drastically and they're still going.


So, in the spirit of those happy news I got myself a HD DVD drive for my Xbox 360. It wasn't planned. I just went shopping one day and there it was. One third of its original price. Without hesitating I got it and it was the best decision this month.


If you're a Xbox 360 or a PC owner you should get one of these today. Especially if you're a console user and haven't got the Microsoft remote for your 360 yet. The HD DVD drive box not only contains the drive itself, but also the remote for the 360, which by itself can be a bit pricey. The combo cost me almost as much as the remote itself would if I bought it separately.


Don't have a 360? No worries. The drive should work fine on your Windows XP or Vista computer, since it connects with an USB cable. All you need is an internet connection [for the XP to download proper drivers, Vista doesn't need them] and a compatible player. I personally use the latest version of PowerDVD.


So I got my drive, but what about the movies? That's the best part. At the they're still plenty and they're unbelievabely cheap. Right away I got myself Blade Runner: The Final Cut, 300 and King Kong [2005]. And each of them cost me one fifth of the BluRay price. That's cheaper than regular DVDs! You save money and get the HD 1080p quality identical with what BluRay offers. It's a win-win situation for both you, and your wallet.

『 ナイトメアー・ビフォア・クリスマス & パーフェクトダーク ゼロ 』

『 The Orange Box: Original Soundtrack 』

Today, on December 22nd, Valve has released "The Orange Box: Original soundtrack". Grab it while you can since Valve aren't too keen on releasing music from their games and it will surely become sold out in no time at all [just like the Black Mesa Parking Permits].

Valve was kind enough to include a few original tracks / remixes that you wouldn't be able to obtain through ripping the music directly from the games. This, plus the wallet friendly price of 9.95 make the soundtrack into a must have.

I've already ordered mine. I truly hate Valve store though. For some reason they refuse to accept my card and I'm forced to use PayPal instead. I've tried to purchase the item using my card and each time I was informed that there was a problem with the validation. This however, didn't stop Valve store from reserving a proper amount of money from my account. So basically I now have one soundtrack purchased and three more purchases reserved for validation.

『 ワンダースワン 風のクロノア ムーンライトミュージアム 』

It all started back in 1997, when Namco and Klonoa Works made their first game in the series. Klonoa, much like NiGHTS is a guardian of dreams and he travels around the dream world, making sure everything is fine and that we all sleep tight.


First game was a 3D or 2,5D platformer released for Sony's PlayStation. The game was a moderate success and this was enough to make a sequel, which was released later, on the PlayStation 2. In between these two games, Klonoa received its first handheld version. This was of course Kaze no Klonoa: Moonlight Museum.


Being a strong franchise, Klonoa not only recieved a game but also a special bundle pack in which the game was sharing a box with a WonderSwan mono console. Sadly, unlike Final Fantasy editions of WonderSwan Color, the Klonoa bundle console is just a regular skeleton blue version, without any Klonoa logotypes on it.


But hey, that doesn't make it any less special. In fact, the Klonoa bundle is harder to find than the Final Fantasy bundles, which were produced in much larger quantities. I was incredibly lucky to get mine for cheap, and except for some really small signs of wear on the box, everything inside was brand new.


Moonlight Museum is a fun game and its transition to 2D went smoothly. All the key elements of gameplay are still here, even though now it's all black and white on a dot matrix screen. Visually the game may not be as impressive as the GameBoy Advance version, but it can still hold its own.


The game is quite long. Each of the five worlds we'll be visiting is divided into six visions, or sub-stages if you will, which will keep you occupied for a long time. The music is a typical lo-fi chiptune arrangement of some tunes we've heard in the PlayStation game, plus a handful of new ones.


If you come across this title and you like platformers, buy it because it's certainly worth it. The game is right up there with some of the Mario games. Also, because of strong ghosting on the WonderSwan mono screen, I suggest you play it on SwanCrystal. It will make the game much more enjoyable.