I confess that last night was the first time I had played Halo 3, unless you count the tiny bit of time I spent with the multiplayer beta earlier this year. My first personal gaming priority is to finish Bioshock, and I want to spend more time with skate, so Halo 3 is going on the back-burner. All of my gaming time--even my free time--is spent with games for work, and because I am the resident RPG player, I get all these long-ass games that take a lot of time. It's sad, too, because I can spend 50 hours on a game, but it won't necessarily make for a longer review than games that take 10 hours to complete, so I always have this feeling that my output lags behind my fellow editors. I keep begging Alex to give me something short and light. Too bad the short, light stuff I get invariably sucks. In any case, my personal gaming time is incredibly limited, so I only have time for a single game at a time, and it will take me weeks to finish a 15-hour game at this point.

But back to the story at hand. We had a lot of fun at GameSpot Game Night on Wednesday. I am a big fan of major chaos in shooters, so for the first game, we played king of the hill, only I set gravity to 50%, and the hill to move randomly every 15 seconds. It was insane. For me, in the good way, though a few folks thought I must have been smoking something. I did learn a few things, though:

1. Jason Ocampo is excitable. During a bombing run match, Jason was the most vocal member of the team, screaming out the bomb location, calling for us to defend the bomb, and generally lifting adrenaline levels to the extreme. It was pretty awesome, and makes me want to play with Jason more often.

2. My brother is a great Halo player. I was so excited: My half-brother Andrew joined us last night. Now, I've never met Andy, or my real dad for that matter, but Andy and I have been talking for close to a year now. I hope to get him out here soon though for a visit. In any case, it's freaky how much he sounds like me, looks like me, acts like me. Well, he's a better Halo player than I am, but I am 14 years older, so I'll use that as an excuse. In any case, his gamertag is reign416. Send him an invite and chat him up. Tell him Kevin sent ya.

So check out some highlights from the infamous king of the hill match. They were thrown together quickly, but it should give you an idea of how much fun these nights are. Next week? Quake Wars!

This was originally published on October 3, 2007. If you're reading this much later than that, stuff might well have changed. Tokyo doesn't stand still for long.

I lived in Tokyo for about two years, and here are a few of my favourite shops for buying games--second hand, new, and English language. It's notoriously difficult to find anywhere in Tokyo, so I've included a crap map.

Not surprisingly, the biggest concentration of video game shops is in Den Den Electric Town, otherwise known as Akihabara.

Akihabara area (JR Akihabara station)

Super Potato
This is like a video game graveyard--where old game consoles and games go when they're not quite ready to die. Over three floors, and filled with retro games including the Virtual Boy, SNES, all the way to the still very much alive and kicking PlayStation 2. The top floor is a small retro arcade, where you can sit and play favourite old games. Prices are reasonable.

Address: 3F Kitanayashi Bldg, 1-11-2 Soto-Kanda, Chiyoda-ku
Tel: 03-5289-9933
Open: Mon-Fri 11am-8pm, Sat-Sun 10am-8pm
Web site: www.superpotato.com

Game and DVD Trader
Traders is a second hand DVD and video game chain, with several branches across Tokyo. There's also one on the Chuo-Dori. This is the biggest one I've ever been in, and has stacks of Nintendo DS and PlayStation games on the ground floor, along with some 'questionable' PC games.

Address : Sotokanda 1-4-9 Chiyoda-ku
Tel: 03-3255-0777
Open: Mon, Tues, Wed 11am-8pm, Fri and Sat 10am-8.30pm, Thu, Sun, Holidays 10am-8pm
Web site: http://www.e-trader.jp/

Yodobashi Camera Akiba
Touted as the biggest electronics store in the world when it opened, I'm not sure how we can substantiate that, but it's certainly big. Very big. Games are on the seventh floor, along with toys, and it has probably the biggest selection in one place in all of Akihabara. However, titles are also a little more expensive than in some of the smaller outlets. Games sometimes get taken off the shelves faster than they can be restacked, so it's worth asking at the till if you can't find something. Taking the showa-dori exit from JR Akihabara station will bring you out right beside one of the entrances.

Address: 1-1 Kanda Hanaokacho, Chiyoda-ku
Tel: 03-5209-1010
Open daily 9:30am-10pm
Web site: http://www.yodobashi.com/

Game Hollywood
Game Hollywood stocks import American games in all formats, which is handy if you live in Japan, love gaming, and don't speak Japanese. There's a wide selection of titles here, and new ones tend to show up fairly fast. You can also check on the handy Web site to see if what you want is in stock or not before you head out.

Address: 5th Floor, Uchida Building, Sotokanda 1-9-9 Chiyoda-ku
Tel: 03-5297-3281
Open: Daily 11am to 8pm
Web site: http://www.gmh.jp/

Messe Sanoh Chaos
Moved to handily right next to Game Hollywood from its previous location up a dodgy staircase on the Chuo-Dori, Messe Sanoh is cheaper than Game Hollywood, and has a bigger PC foreign game section. It's worth trying here first, and if they don't have what you want, popping next door to Game Hollywood.

Address: 1st Floor Kankou Building, Sotokanda 1-9-11 Chiyoda-ku
Open: Mon, Tues, Wed 10.30am-8pm Thur, Sat 10am-8pm Fri 10am-8.30 Sun, Holidays 10am-7.30pm
Web site: http://www.messe.gr.jp/

Harajuku area (JR Harajuku)

Book Off
This hilariously named chain of second hand book shops also stock a wide range of used video games and consoles in all the current formats. They also have sister stores called Hard Off that sell second hand hardware, if you hadn't finishedlaughing. This branch is the most centrally located, but it's worth venturing out into the suburbs for real bargains--for example the Ogikubo branch (just across the big crossing from the JR Ogikubo main exit) has a whole two bookshelves of games under 1,000 yen on all formats.

Address: 1-8-8 Jinguumae Shibuya-ku Tokyo (On the Meiji-Dori towards Shinjuku, just past the New Balance store.)
Open: daily 10am-9pm
Web site: http://bookoff.co.jp/index.html

Shibuya area (JR Shibuya)

Mandarake
This chain has apparently been around for a while, but I guess I never noticed it. Primarily a manga comic store, it's crammed full of manga comics, including rare and special editions, and also figures, posters, and cosplay costumes. They also have a game section, selling all the usual formats, plus a few retro bits and pieces.

Address: Shibuya Beam B2, 31-2 Udagawacho, Shibuya-Ku
Tel: 03-3477-0777
Open: Daily from 12noon-8pm
Web site: http://www.mandarake.co.jp/english/shop/sby.html (English map on the Web site)

TheCrap Map of Akihabara

KEY Where 1-Super Potato 2-Game Hollywood 3-Messe Sanoh 4-Game and DVDTrader 5-Yodobashi Camera Akiba. More or less.

This is getting ridiculous. Holiday 2007 was supposed to be it, the big bang, the nonstop assault of AAA titles nuking our wallets and pushing the industry's sales figures to unparalleled heights. Now it just seems like an appetizer for early 2008.

Even before today's delay of Unreal Tournament 3 on the PlayStation 3, the end of 2007 had suffered an exodus of big games. After a stroll through the GameSpot archives, I compiled the following list of games once confirmed for late 2007, but later slipped into 2008 (most of them in the first three months of the year):

Grand Theft Auto IV
Metal Gear Solid 4
Splinter Cell: Conviction
God of War: Chains of Olympus
Xbox 360 World in Conflict
Mercenaries 2
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
PS3 Home
The Club
Too Human
Age of Conan
Dark Sector
Warhammer Online
Frontlines: Fuel of War
Wheelman
Gray Matter
Blast Works
Lost Odyssey
Turok
Warhound
Spore (originally scheduled by end of March 08, now set to release by April 1, 2009)
Star Wars: Force Unleashed

If you added the assortment of annualized franchises like EA and 2K's sports games, Tony Hawk, Raw vs. Smackdown, Guitar Hero, and a Nintendo title or two in there, that list of games would be a pretty great fourth quarter all on its own.

Even though it sucks having to wait to get my hands on some of these games, I'm all for this. I'm pretty tired of the lemming-like rush to the fourth quarter and having a few short weeks in October and November each year where absolutely everything comes out, and then entire months in the rest of the year where the new release lists are retail wastelands and I wind up eagerly anticipating an SNK compilation just to have something new to throw in the PS2. People play games the whole year 'round. I think they're willing to buy them the whole year 'round, provided their new options are actually good options.

If nothing else, these mass delays suggest companies are developing a sense of shame when it comes to rushing out releases just to take advantage of the year-end sales frenzy. Shame is good, and gaming publishers in general need a lot more of it.

If my theory holds true, then the NPD numbers for early 2008 should show some significant growth year-over-year, perhaps even more growth than we get during the 2007 holiday months. On the other hand, there are often reasons why things are the way they are--even if those reasons aren't readily apparent--so we could see a bunch of AAA titles released to an apathetic public that really will only buy massive quantities of games at the end of each year. You never know.

In Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, the last heart container on your health meter flashes on and off constantly. It never stops. If your health bar is full, it's flashing. If you've taken some damage, it's still flashing. If you're almost dead, an incredibly annoying siren sounds comes on and cannot be shut off.

I could not finish either of the first two Splinter Cell games because of the reminder bar for your objectives. If you stopped moving for literally two seconds, a bar would pop up on the bottom of the screen, reminding you of what you're supposed to be doing. If you started moving again, it would go away. Since so much of Splinter Cell revolves around waiting, the games basically featured a billboard that constantly appeared and disappeared on your screens. Again, this drove me bonkers, and instead of actually finishing what appeared to be good games, I had to stop playing them.

Fighting games are also pretty bad for me. It's 2007, now. If you're porting your arcade game onto a home console, there's no damn need to have a constantly flashing "Press Start to Play!" reminder above the 2P life bar all the time. These things are constantly flashing and cannot be turned off. Why? Is there a single fighting game fan in the entire world who doesn't know that they can press play to hop into a game? Do we need a constant reminder of this? Does it need to always be flashing on and off?

For the life of me, I can't figure out why otherwise smart game designers persist in making games that have constantly flashes elements of the HUD or UI that cannot be turned off. I'm sure it doesn't bug most people, but it really, really annoys me when I have to play a game that has something like this in it, to the point where I will give up on decent games simply because I can't stand to look at it anymore. Seriously, if you're playing Phantom Hourglass and need to have a flashing heart to remind you to look an inch away from the middle of the screen to check your health, then you're probably two years old and don't have the hand-eye coordination needed to finish the game anyway.

I'm not epileptic or anything, and I'm fine with having flashing warnings on the screen if they serve some kind of purpose, but when they're patently purposeless (the objective bar in Splinter Cell was totally unnecessary, since you could check your objectives on your PDA at any time) and can't be switched off, then someone on the design team needs to be fired.

UPDATES - Last Update: 10:18 PM PST

11:35 - Nothing quite like waking up in the morning with a stabbing pain in the right side of your neck. I can't quite turn my head all the way to the right, so I'm pretty excited about that.

Anyway, I woke up a bit early this morning and have been banging away at the latest Temple of the Ocean King. I forgot to mention that I got the hookshot in the last temple, so that did make getting around a smidge easier. I guess the one thing to note is that once you figure out the solution for each level of this temple, it's not terribly difficult or time-consuming to do them again, but it is a bit tedious. New section was a pretty good pain. Guards who can teleport, lots of moving alarms, and one particularly rough timed section that would basically be impossible without bombchus. Gotta love those bombchus. Parts of this game are definitely on the easy side, but this temple can get pretty sadistic at times. Once I made my way through, I got the northwest seachart.

My updates from here on out today will probably be a bit more scattered and less specific, one because I'll be playing in more scattered fashion (errands to run, and such), and because I kinda don't want to give away too much of the endgame. So keep an eye on the blog, but don't be refreshing every eight seconds hoping for an update. Because it ain't comin'!

12:24 - Northwestern waters have a lot of rocks and pirates and unpleasant sea creatures. There are two islands, one of which is initially inaccessable. There's an item on the island you can access that will get you to the other one, but this island's pretty puzzly, so you'll have to do a bunch of running around before you can get that item. It's got kind of a Lost Woods sort of vibe going on toward the end. Again, gotta love the ability to write notes on your map. So, yeah, worked my way through that, and now I'm off to the second island.

2:49 - Made it through what I think is the last temple before my last trip to the Temple of the Ocean King, that being the Sand Temple. Just getting through this island to the entrance of the temple took a bit of doing, so you can just imagine how the temple itself was. One very trap-happy temple, with some evilly tricky puzzles. Boss fight was even a little on the tough side, but I eventually prevailed...after taking a quick break halfway through to go get a few groceries. Anyway, I've got what should be the last metal I need to get the phantom sword. Time to sail out to the blacksmith's island and see if I'm proven correct.

2:54 - As I was writing that, the Niners just got scored on again. I'm really glad I had Zelda this weekend, because if I were forced to actually pay attention to this game, I'd be super-depressed right now. Really, REALLY looking forward to the Pats/Bengals game tomorrow.

3:27 - Yep, that's all I needed. After handing off the metals to the dude, I waited for a bit, had another encounter with the female pirate, then went back and got my sword. It's missing a handle, but after travelling back to the main island...well, let's just say that it was taken care of. Don't want to spoil the sequence. As of now, I'm going to take a lunch break and eat a sammich. After that, I'll be tackling the Temple of the Ocean King for what I believe is one final time. And I swear to god, if the big twist at the end is that you actually have to find eight more seacharts within the temple and collect a bunch of triforce shards scattered throughout the ocean, I'm going to have an aneurysm.

10:18 - Oh, yeah, I beat it by the way. No spoilers, no big flowery gushy descriptions of what happened. I will simply say that it ends well with some satisfying fights. And that last trip through the Temple of the Ocean King actually wasn't half bad. All told, I think it took me about 14-15 hours to bust through it, and I know I didn't find all the uncharted islands or sunken treasure, so there's definitely more to do. Also spent some time playing online against international folk in the multiplayer. I can't say it's spectacular, but it's not bad, either. I kinda dig the sort of pseudo-Pac-Man vs. thing it has going on. It's kinda neat, and it's online, which is cool.

I actually beat it hours ago, but I've been collecting my thoughts (and also doing more dishes, going for a walk with the lady friend, watching the season finale of Rock of Love [best/worst/best again show EVER]), and just getting myself prepped to write the review tomorrow. Want a sneak preview? If I may out and out steal a joke from Jeff here...

Look for the review tomorrow.

UPDATES - Last Updated 11:44 PM PST

12:43 - You ever have one of those mornings when you wake up, and you have no sense of what day it is? I woke up at like 8:45 this morning, looked around, wondered why my alarm hadn't gone off and why Jeff hadn't shown up to roll with me to work yet. Then I realized it was Saturday, slept for two more hours, and had roughly the same exact bit of confusion when I woke up later. Yeesh. Now I'm showered, shaved, and ready to get the Zelda on. Whoo!

12:52 - Yeah, this third temple is kooky as hell. Moving platforms, lots of traps you have to avoid, and an enemy type that won't take damage unless you scream into the microphone first to disable it. I'm just trying to envision someone playing this on a bus and screaming into their DS. Awkward to say the least.

1:00 - Oh invisible platforms, you will be death of me. Literally. Good thing I can sketch out the invisible pathway on the map. Got the bow and arrow. I foresee this coming in handy for the rest of the temple.

1:36 - Clever boss fight in this one. Not the toughest boss I've ever encountered, but very cool fight that uses both screens to great effect. Another solid temple all around. Lots of drawing stuff on the map, and I'll just say that there's a very specific order to it that becomes clear early on. Rescued the Spirit of Courage (who is oddly silent) and got another heart container. Ah jeez, I really hope I don't have to go back to the Temple of the Ocean King again. If I do, I think I may put that off a bit and do a little exploring first.

1:45 - Plot twist! No spoilers, just...you know...plot twist!

1:50 - Was about to head off toward the death fog to go find the ghost ship, when some crazy pirate lady attacked and started shooting torpedoes at us. I think Limebeck and this chick are previously acquainted. She caught up, we sword fought, I won, and off we go.

1:57 - Found the ghost ship. This seems like as good of a spot as any to pause and take a few questions:

In regards to the linearity of the game, the storyline definitely has a very linear flow to it. You are going from one point to the next in a very specific order. However, there's plenty of side ventures to take part in, it seems. Uncharted islands to explore, treasure to discover, etc. I'm pretty sure I could have gone through without ever picking up that cyclone slate, but it's come in handy thus far. It's worth exploring beyond the primary quests.

In regards to the difficulty, it's not very tough at this point. I've died a couple of times, but that's mainly because I keep forgetting to stock up on potions before I tackle a temple. The puzzles are clever, but I have yet to get truly stuck at this point. Usually the path to glory is at least somewhat clear.

In regards to game length, I think I'm about halfway through at this point. I still have two seacharts to find, which I imagine I'll start doing after this ghost ship bit.

In regards to those enemies that have to be shouted at, yeah, they look like a cross between a Pikachu and Buggs Bunny. Gigantic ears and fat and yellow.

In regards to how long it takes to eat a sandwich, 45 minutes, minimum. At least, that is if you're doing it correctly. Hmmm. A sandwich sounds kinda good. Time to call the girlfriend and see if she can bring me back some grub on her way home from work. After that, to the ghost ship!

2:24 - So, I'm inside the ship, and there are these sisters trapped throughout the ship. I have to escort them back to the first sister I found. There's something...unsettling about them. Something...sinister. I wonder if they're left handed...

2:55 - Yeah, I was right. After rescuing all the sisters, they turned into creepy ghosts and I ended up playing an evil game of table tennis with them until I'd smoked them all. They send me in the direction of Tetra. I find her, but without giving too much away, I'll just say all is not right. Gramps mysteriously appears again. Dude has a knack for getting around. He explains a bunch of stuff which I won't go into here. Again, plot twist. From here, big, big bout of plot exposition with more of the art cutout style cutscenes. Love the art on these.

3:03 - Some decent comedy in this game's dialogue sequences. Limebeck is a good comic foil. Anyway, long story short, I know who the ultimate evil is behind all these monsters and crap now. I've got to go see some blacksmith who has some idea of how to defeat it. But before that, I really need a burrito. More later!

4:35 - OK, I am fully burrito'd. To Bannan Island, and the blacksmith!

4:48 - OK, so that wasn't the right island. But I did find a mermaid and a weird target shooting minigame on that one!

4:59 - Found the island with blacksmith. I need to get three pure metals for him so he can build the phantom sword, the weapon I need to dispell evil and all that. Three different tribes on various islands have them. I gotta go back to the Ocean King's temple to get a new seachart. Sunuva!

5:06 - Bought a quiver so now I can carry more arrows. Back at the temple, another earthquake hits. I go inside and the phantom dudes are now glowing red, which apparently means they're faster. Joy! I'm really beginning to loathe this temple.

5:39 - Oh sweet tapdancing Christ, there's a save point here at the next section of the Ocean King temple. That is the LAST time I will ever have to deal with those levels. I'm sure there will still be some repetition here and there, but at least that section's over and done with. Now then...

6:02 - Well, now I know why they added this midway save. The temple turns into a gigantic pain in the ass from here. Floors that make noises that alert the phantoms, weird ghost things that attack you from time to time, and of course, more invisible platforms. This might be OK if I didn't have to be constantly carrying around crystals to fit in holes to open doors. Sigh. I'm going to go put on a load of laundry and hope my head clears a bit before tackling this again.

6:46 - After doing a few household chores, I tackled that temple again and finished it with a couple of minutes to spare. Yeesh that section was annoying. Got the southeastern sea chart. Let's see about finding that first precious metal now.

6:48 - Just checked the hockey scores. LA trounced the Ducks. Who'da thunk it? That Bernier kid looks like he might be for reals.

7:17 - Gorons! I always loved these guys. Had to introduce myself to everyone on the island so the chief would accept me into the tribe...for a small fee, of course. Wandered around a maze for a bit until I figured out the slightly opaque solution, then headed off to the Goron's temple for the first metal. I wonder if this one will be markedly tougher than the previous temples...

8:07 - Nah, not much tougher. It's really only the ocean king's temple that kinda sucks at this point. Another solid temple with some good puzzles, most of which revolve around bombchus. You also get a goron helper at one point. And possibly my favorite boss fight thus far. Heart container woot! First pure metal woot! Sounds like the head Goron wants to see me before I leave. Let's see what he wants.

8:12 - Just more money. Oh well, nothing to sneeze at.

8:27 - Arrived at the isle of frost, which is completely encased in ice from the get-go, which means I've gotta blast it away with my ship. Doesn't help that weird flying eyeballs are attacking me. Finished that off, and now heading to the island to speak to the population.

8:40 - Well that was just silly. The Isle of Frost has two native inhabitants, the Anuki and the Yook. The chief of the ANuki thinks they have a spy in their midst, so I had to deduce who it was by doing the sort of process of elimination problem I haven't had to do since seventh grade. After doing that and then beating up some Yook on my way to the Ice Temple, I...uh...well, I went to the Ice Temple. I'm gonna pause here for a little while and take a break. For some reason, I have a very distinct and altogether perplexing desire to do some dishes. More later.

10:31 - Mkay, after a little break, I'm ready to get back to it. I'd like to at least bust through this temple before I crash for the night. Maybe we'll go further, we'll see.

11:24 - Definitely the toughest of the traditional temples so far, though the boss fight was wicked easy once I figured out what to do. Still, a few tough puzzles and challenges in this one. Got my stuff, and I'm heading out.

11:39 - While sailing around I discovered a really weird and kind of awesome secret island. No spoilers, it's just rad. You'll know it when you find it. Beyond that, it looks like I'm heading back to the Temple of the Ocean King for one more seachart. Not looking forward to that, so I'm going to quit here for the night and resume tomorrow.

Current impressions? I'm loving everything about the game except for one thing, and that's the slog that is the Temple of the Ocean King. I don't quite get why there is this insistance on making you jam back to this place over and over again. I certainly appreciate the challenge of the temple itself (not to mention the save point that pops up halfway through the game) but having to redo chunks of it multiple times is just not that much fun. Beyond that though, very few complaints. The controls are a dream, if you ask me. Love the responsiveness, and very rarely have they caused me to do anything dumb. Game looks amazing, as I've said, and while the story is contrived in a very stereotypically Zelda kind of way, I like the characters I've encountered thus far and I am legitimately excited to see how it all ends. Look more more updates tomorrow. For now, sleep. Because that's where I'm a Viking.

TGS is finally over, but it's the gift that keeps on giving. Not only am I still trying to adjust to the time difference and struggling to figure out what day it is, but I've also got a bunch of video left from the 3rd day of the show. This was the first day the show was open to the public and it's when things got really crazy. We're talking droids, booth girls, cosplay, games where you scrub down other men, and the longest line you've ever seen in your lives. It's all in this video. Check it out!

You may or may not have seen the segment on On The Spot yesterday where I talk to booth girls about current events and then try my hand at speaking Japanese. If you missed it or you want to see it again, I've uploaded that clip as a user video. I know some people thought I was making fun of the girls and being mean, but we let each one know ahead of time (in Japanese) that we were shooting a humor piece, so they knew what was going on. It was all in good fun!