Well the GBA + PSP had increased the difficulty level, tho honestly right now I'm not seeing it. The game appears to be so easy, well grinding is really simple, fights last all of 10 seconds, so rinse and repeat, its all just mash the X button and the game plays itself.

The one thing I dislike is prices are scaling linearly, this dagger is 1$, this broadsword is $10000000 dollars.. kinda ridiculous but money means nothing in this game so prices sky rocket.

-- Stu --

I have the FF I and II combo on the GBA. When I tried to play through I I got pretty frustrated by the excessive random combat. I'll go back it to one day, but I'm not necessarily chomping at the bit to do so.

Vintage Games book!
Xbox 360: billlog | Wii: 1345 2773 2048 1586 | PS3: ArmchairArcade
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.

Final Fantasy I on PSP. I need to see how other games deal with consoleness since my RPG is very PC-like.

Its a LOT different from Phantasy Start 1-4... Its a lot more interesting to to me, phantasy star bored me to tears. Ive done next to nothing and am already at level 15 and just retrived the crown and am about to return it to the king.

-- Stu --

Ah, here are some more favorites:
Captain Fizz

And for Christmas: Lemmings Holiday. Ho Ho Ho!

This looks very interesting--3D glasses, even! Air Support. Never heard of it.

Psygnosis always had such high production values--great graphics, music, audio, etc. Definitely a premier Amiga developer.

In France google comes up with quite different stuff than at home. Look what I just found:

http://psygnosisamiga.free.fr/main1.htm

Xbox 360: Lactobacillus P | Wii: 8151 3435 8469 3138
Editor / Pixelator - Armchair Arcade, Inc. | www.markvergeer.nl

For you, Mark, I'd recommend the Psygnosis shmups (my personal favorite is Blood Money) and Deluxe Galaga. There's an older Amiga game called Xenon that's very fun, too. There's another really fun game that doesn't get talked about to much called Jet Strike that I adore. Also: Check out Army Moves, another Moonwalker-style shooter with lots of personality.

If you can find it, I highly recommend ECO: A Game of Survival. It's so innovative it's just stunning. I don't know why it isn't more popular. Of course, if you haven't played Cannon Fodder you're missing out on one of the Amiga's best games. Of course, the Turrican games are great.

Since you're a psychiatrist I think you'd get a kick out of Mind Walker. It was an early Amiga game but one of my favorites.

A few other quirky games I enjoyed on my Amiga: Elf and Bone Cruncher. They're pretty weird, but different in a good way (at least I think). Other weird but fan games are Terramex and Thexder.

Finally, if you're really bored and looking for something unusual: Three Musketeers. I haven't seen anything like this game before or since. Wonderful production; very artistic.

Matt,
I have the Amiga forever package installed on the laptop - it is always very cool to have the Workbench 3.x loaded full screen right before I have to give a presentation at work and stuff. I have quite a selection of games but what games would you recommend?

Xbox 360: Lactobacillus P | Wii: 8151 3435 8469 3138
Editor / Pixelator - Armchair Arcade, Inc. | www.markvergeer.nl

The oldies I go back to pretty regularly--well, lately--Rush'n Attack (aka Green Beret) on MAME, Rock'n Roll Racing (SNES), Bubble Bobble (MAME), QIX (Mame), Turrican (Amiga), and occasionally a Roguelike. I'm thinking heavily about getting into the Emerald Cave/Balderdash type games with Elizabeth. I also really enjoyed the ICOM Simulations games (Uninvited, Shadowgate, Deja Vu, etc.) and am waiting for the answers to fade from my mind so I can play through those again. Same for Baldur's Gate I and II (I figure I can replay those every five or six years).

It may be time to crank up Cannon Fodder (Amiga) again. I remember how much I loved that game (along with Syndicate) on my Amiga back in the day.

Just saw an intriguing video about a world leader pardoning a Turkey. A nice ritual just like the donation of the Shamrock by the Irish on St.Patrick's Day.

In this video George B. was pardoning the Turkey so all is well for 'Pumpkin' the Turkey and whilst the turkey is expected in Disneyland George is probably traveling home and will end up eating another one this weekend, can't imaging the guy being a vegetarian.
Then I saw another news item about George's mom. Whilst I am glad to see the man retire as president I found it real sad for the parting president and his family that the 'mater familias' has to be in the hospital right now. I hope she'll recover swiftly, then she might be able to enjoy Christmas without any problems.

Xbox 360: Lactobacillus P | Wii: 8151 3435 8469 3138
Editor / Pixelator - Armchair Arcade, Inc. | www.markvergeer.nl

Yesterday I played Feeding Frenzy 2 co-op first with my oldest daughter, then my wife on the Xbox 360. It's a shame I don't have a third and fourth working controller (my third needs to be fixed), as we could all play at the same time. Anyway, it's the epitome of a casual, relatively slow paced game, but it does get a bit difficult in later levels (in fact my wife and I ran out of continues!).

I also played some more Battlezone on the Xbox 360. That's a favorite of mine in both original and enhanced visual modes, but I'll be damned if I can't get a single achievement in the thing. I was playing with the simplified control scheme, though I do enjoy activating the tank controls once in a while. Sadly, as is typical with these older games, there was no one online to play with.

I tried the demo for "Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader" on the 360. I don't watch the show, but it's surprisingly well done for a downloadable game show conversion. I got to the million dollar question on the first try, but of course then the demo ended. I won't be buying it unless I have a game show night at some point with my sister or something, but it was certainly fun. It even supports the big button controllers that come with Scene It! (which I don't have, but would certainly consider - I love trivia and board games like that)

I also tried the demo for Tempest on the 360, which, like Battlezone, also has original and enhanced visual modes. The enhanced mode was a bit overly trippy. I can't say I liked it due to the controls. It definitely needs a spinner. Pass.

I also played Bomberman LIVE on the 360, which I own, because I wanted to see the new avatar integration. I think that's only in the online portion, which again, was not populated yesterday, sadly. No achievements in that either. Tough game. Fun, but tough.

I played New Rally-X again on the 360 and got another achievement, which made me happy.

That's it. Not sure how much I'll get to do today due to Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Vintage Games book!
Xbox 360: billlog | Wii: 1345 2773 2048 1586 | PS3: ArmchairArcade
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.