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Treasure Hunter: The Real March Madness

By Angela Moseley on March 1, 2010 2:10 PM | Permalink | 4 Comments

March is already upon us and for fans that only means one thing-- March Madness. And no, I'm not talking about sports fans or college basketball. The real March madness lies in the sheer number of high profile video game releases coming out this month. From Final Fantasy XIII on the PS3 and 360 down to Pokémon HeartGold on the DS and everything in between, March promises to be an insanely awesome month. Included with so many awesome games is a fair amount of bonus items or swag, ripe for collecting. If you're interested in keeping track of all of the games coming out this month a complete listing can be found at VGRleases.

First up is the highly anticipated Final Fantasy XIII release. As Joseph mentioned in a news roundup Microsoft is releasing a special FFXIII 360 Elite Bundle which includes the new 250GB model and two wireless controllers (ironic for a single-player game). All and all, the bundle is pretty lackluster until you toss in the free bonus faceplate featuring Lighting. If you're a fan of Final Fantasy and you haven't already bought a PS3 for the game and you currently don't own a 360 (or you want one with more hard drive space) this bundle could be for you.

If you already own a 360 and you're interested in the FFXIII branded faceplate Microsoft is releasing a standalone faceplate for a whopping $49.99. I chalk the price up to Microsoft being well, Microsoft! Personally, I think Lighting would look good on my black Xbox but not for $50. Sure the price isn't unheard of just look at the MadCatz Gears of War special edition faceplate, but the average price of $19.95 is a tad more reasonable. Hopefully these FFXIII special edition faceplates will eventually make their way out to Amazon's Marketplace and eBay for sane prices. Until then, if you pre-ordered your game with GameStop there's always the free 32-page mini strategy guide. The guide is included with both versions of the game.

Normally a new numbered Final Fantasy game is more than enough to steal the gaming spotlight for the month but FFXIII also has to share with another highly anticipated Triple A title, God of War III. Unlike the RPG, this action game sports an impressive collector's edition. The God of War III Ultimate Edition ships with a sculpted replica of Pandora's Box, a collector's edition art book with interviews, and downloadable items. Downloadable swag includes the game trilogy soundtrack, a documentary of the God of War franchise, a combat arena, a Dominus skin, and "God of War: Blood and Metal EP," an MP3 song of a heavy metal tribute to the series. The GoW III Ultimate Edition retails for $99.99, but is sold out or unavailable at many retailers. To put it simply, if you waited until now to reserve a copy of the Ultimate Edition you may be out of luck, unless you're willing to pay up to $300 on Amazon or you're willing to try your luck on eBay.

If you're a fan of Pokemon and portable RPGs no doubt you already have your eyes on the upcoming Pokémon HeartGold and Pokémon SoulSilver games. A pokéwalker, or pedometer is already included with every new copy of the games and is no doubt a must have. The ability to transfer pokémon to the pokéwalker and then level them up is a bonus in a game that requires lots of grinding. In addition to leveling up monsters the Pokéwalker can be used to find special items and pokémon and to receive gifts from other players also using the pedometer. The pedometer alone is reason enough to buy the game new. However, every GameStop pre-order of HeartGold comes with a special Ho Oh figure. While figure isn't a deal maker or breaker it is nice to have one. Unfortunately there no longer appears to be a special Lugia figure included with SoulSilver, so the best a collector can do is hope that their local GameStop employees will include a Ho Oh figure with their pre-order of SoulSilver.

According to the early reviews Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey is an awesome DS game. If you enjoyed Nocturne on the PS2 you should feel right at home with this title. Even if you're unfamiliar with the SMT games but you love RPGs Strange Journey should still be an enjoyable experience. As with Persona on the PSP Atlus is releasing the soundtrack together with every new copy of the game. If you pre-order the game at GameStop you'll also receive a mini-poster (pictured above). The gorgeous sci-fi themed artwork alone is enough to make the trek down to a local GameStop to pre-order. If GameStop isn't your thing this poster will undoubtedly make its way to eBay and Amazon's Marketplace.

The GameStop exclusives for March continue with the exclusive soundtrack to Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon. Unfortunately with a release date of March 16th Fragile Dreams is already on shaky ground with God of War III, Dragon Age Origins: Awaking, and Resonance of Fate all releasing on the same day. Fragile Dreams promises to be a dark RPG that is character and plot driven. Exploration and emotion provide a break from the average combat driven RPG titles. Fragile Dreams could be worth looking into for RPG fans who are not interested in the big RPG title of the month or who simply want to support XSEED. If I wasn't already tapped out on games this month I'd certainly try this title on the Wii.

And if you're looking for Lunar: Silver Star Harmony which releases tomorrow Geoff already wrote about it here.

Teasure Hunter - New Persona Revelations

By Angela Moseley on September 27, 2009 2:58 AM | Permalink | 4 Comments

My copy of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona arrived at my local GameStop on Tuesday. I had originally ordered the game at my local Game Crazy but the store closed its doors for good on Monday. Fortunately, a co-worker at my night job told me a few days in advance, which gave me extra time to pre-order Persona elsewhere. Too bad I never got a chance to return to Game Crazy to get my deposit back. As for Persona, I'm pretty impressed at the inclusion of a full 67-song soundtrack (for free) with a game that only costs about $40. The soundtrack itself could easily retail at import sites for about $30 or more, if it were available for sale. It's also worth noting that Atlus rarely releases an entire video game OST domestically. Persona 4's Social Link Expansion pack almost counts, minus the fact that if you didn't pre-order way in advance you missed out on the second half of Persona 4's OST. For nearly that reason alone the collector's edition of Persona is quite special.

More pictures of the collector's edition of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona can be found right here. Also note the new PlayStation branding on the PSP cover.

Lately I've been short on free time and I've not yet had a chance to listen to the entire soundtrack. However, I have been able to find time in between my first and second job to play Persona on the go. So far the soundtrack like the game, has a mid-90s RPG feel with a few updated elements. I did not experience Revelations: Persona as it was released on the PS1 over a decade ago, nor have I had a chance to hear the original game's music. In other words, I'm in no position to say which version Shoji Meguro's work is more enjoyable, nevertheless Meguro has yet to let me down. If you greatly enjoyed Persona 3 and 4's OST you'll probably enjoy the more J-pop and rock orientated Persona. The few hours I've put into the game have been entertaining, and as expected the game feels nothing its PS2 successors. For some it might be disappointing, but I'm actually enjoying the differences. Although some copies of Revelations: Persona can be found for less than $100, I'd rather not spend that much money on an old (and arguably flawed) PS1 game just to compared it to an enhanced port.

With the advent of the PSP Go many games including Persona will be available digitally. As long as the game remains available via download, Atlus and their problem with limited supplies should be a thing of the past. As for the retail-only collector's edition, who knows long supplies will last? Given Atlus and their history of game shortages I certainly wouldn't count on the collector's edition being available a year from now. So if you're a fan of the Persona series, the Shin Megami Tensei series, or RPGs in general (and you happen to own a PSP) why not spoil yourself while supplies last?

Teasure Hunter: The return of Atlus Spoils. Kiss your hard earned cash goodbye.

By Angela Moseley on June 11, 2009 3:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you've been following the list of upcoming Atlus releases you'd know that Knights in the Nightmare just came out last week, Class of Heroes released earlier this week, and Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor is due out later this month. Unlike Knights in the Nightmare, SMT: Devil Survivor is not an Atlus Spoils release, nor is Class of Heroes for that matter. For a while I began to wonder if any further upcoming Atlus titles would release with spoils, or if the company would wait until the holiday season to include spoils. Then I began to wonder if the upcoming Shin Megami Tensei: Persona would include any spoils. Today Atlus answered my unspoken question.

Yes, SMT: Persona on the PSP will in fact release with spoils. It looks as if we'll be getting the entire two-disc soundtrack which has been redone by the awesome Shoji Meguro as well as a box set. Atlus announced the game would release in North America on September 22nd, although the game is not yet available for pre-order online as of this writing. Although it should be available very soon. Between BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger (and Aksys Games' own massive spoils), and Dissidia: Final Fantasy my wallet (and possibly yours) is going to take quite a hit. On the upside, I'll most likely be finished with Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 by the time Persona hits the States. If not, I'll just have to blame it on my anime addiction.

Chasing the Red Cape

By Geoffrey Barnes on May 17, 2009 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm a little late to the party on this, but I got my copy of Devil Summoner 2 from Amazon.com via UPS shortly after noon Thursday. Apparently these days I'm too lazy to even take pictures of anything! Mine is #13,692, by the way.

But the real reason I wanted to make this post today is because of the first game, namely how its price has suddenly skyrocketed on Amazon's Marketplace. It's things like this that show how much in demand a prequel will go when its sequel releases, especially if they're within a franchise as niche as Megaten. Actually, the most amazing thing about this is that a year ago Gamestop couldn't give these things away. A pretty good deal of the Gamestops I visited this time last year had at least one copy to sell, while quite a few of them had stacks of copies they couldn't move; quite unheard of for an Atlus game, especially for a title released back in October '06.

It probably shouldn't be a surprise at all, but seeing the game sell for a mere $20 new and comparing it to the price now is rather stunning. If you saw it back then, hopefully you jumped on the chance and obtained a nice, shrink-wrapped copy of the game. Of course, if your sense of perception is beyond usual, you probably obtained two so you could sell one for a hefty profit now. It's going to cost you at least $60 for a new copy, and a little less than that for a used one.

It's things like this that makes the act of buying games to throw into your backlog a little more sensible (just a little). I'm glad I jumped at the chance of buying the first Devil Summoner when I did, because anyone looking for it now is probably going through hell. If you are, I wish you the best of luck.

A few weeks worth of video game swag

By Angela Moseley on May 13, 2009 11:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The PlayStation 2 is so last generation, but that doesn't mean good games are no longer being made for the system. Case in point, within the last month the PS2 had two notable releases. Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus released on April 11th and Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon released yesterday (although it didn't hit most stores until today). The franchises themselves in which the games hail from are notable for the small but dedicated following they've garnered over the years. For the sake of this swag editorial I'm only going to focus on the extras that were included with the games.

First up we have Devil Summoner 2, which just came out. Atlus had been promoting the bundle for months now, but pictures really don't do it justice. The box is extremely impressive in person.

I'll have to admit I was interested in the game more than the plushie (being a limited release and all), but I'm glad I went for the swag. It didn't cost anything extra, and I got this awesome package in the deal. I'm tempted to leave it just like that until I'm actually ready to play Devil Summoner 2. In fact, I think this game will remained sealed as it sits nicely on my shelf along with Raiho.

Surprisingly, the back of this package is just as nice as the front. Atlus certainly put a lot of thought and care into this presentation. I'm tempted to buy a second copy of the game without the packaging just to preserve the seal on mine. It's not very realistic given my frustrating lack of full-time work, but I can dream. I can dream.

By comparison, Guilty Gear looks so much less impressive. Still, a free soundtrack and an expansive version of a game that had become hard to find in local stores is a good deal. While I was at it I also bought Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier for my DS. The soundtrack is also an added bonus, but I'll admit right now I don't know the first thing about Super Robot Taisen. I picked this title up for the perverted humor and KOS-MOS cameo. (Yes I know, I'm such a geek.)

For the moment all of my current purchases have found a notable spot in my video game backlog, but in the meantime I can still enjoy the included swag.

Every 1st Saturday in May is the Real Holiday

By Angela Moseley on May 1, 2009 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of many comic books available on Free Comic Book Day.

On the first Saturday of every May a wonderful international geek holiday comes around. If you said, "Oh, tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day," you'd be absolutely correct. For nearly the last ten years comic book stores and publishers worldwide have gotten together to offer a free comic book to anyone who enters a participating store. The list of give away books is quite comprehensive with about 42 titles to choose from. If American comics aren't your thing Viz Media is offering a special Shonen Jump manga sampler as well. If you're lucky you may live near a store hosting creator signings among other things.

Few things in life are truly free, so why not enjoy a free comic book or two?

Treasure Hunter: Keeping Track of the Barrage of Atlus Bonuses

By Angela Moseley on March 30, 2009 2:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Treasure Hunter is a monthly feature that details swag (toys, CDs, t-shirts, art, etc.) of a collectible nature. Treasure Hunter columns are posted at the end of each month.

The last two months have been a busy period for Atlus. They released new game announcements, new trailers or Atlus Spoils updates every week. With the Atlus PR machine going into overdrive it was hard to keep track of the games with spoils and the ones without spoils. After pouring over each of the Atlus Faithful e-mails in my inbox I compiled a list of swag to collect in the coming weeks and months.

Hammerin' Hero releases on April 7th, and is a quirky side-scrolling beat 'em up/platformer/action game all about defeating corporate evil in Japan. With a variety of jobs and allies to choose from this game looks to be a lot of fun. More importantly, cute figurines are included as an exclusive bonus item with all GameStop pre-orders.

The Dark Spire releases on April 14th, and looks to appeal to fans of classic Western-style RPGs. In addition to being a first person-RPG the game also features classic and modern mode choices. In February Atlus announced each copy of the game would ship with a CD filled with tracks from the game. For a new game that promises to have a very old school feel the music is quite rousing.

Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier almost rivals Devil Summoner 2 for the longest game title released by Atlus. Almost. At first glance I nearly mistook this game for some kind of franchise robot battler, but it is a sci-fi/fantasy/action RPG that releases on April 28th, as Geoff recently pointed out. All pre-orders of this game come with a soundtrack CD. Fans of Xenosaga might want to give the newest Super Robot Taisen series a go, as KOS-MOS does make an appearance in this game.

We also have Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon, which releases on May 12th. Geoff and I have already covered this upcoming title in some detail.

Steal Princess is a puzzle/platfomer game with over 150 levels to play through. In this game a female thief is charged with rescuing a captive prince from the palace of an ancient demon king. Interesting story and gameplay aside, Atlus held a poll in early March to decide on the type of bonus poster that will be included with launch copies of the game. The image above is the winner of the poll and will most likely ship with the game's May 19th release.

Knights in the Nightmare is a real-time strategy RPG due for release on June 2nd. It promises complex gameplay and has ties to the Riviera and Yggdra Union series. The game itself looks gorgeous and sounds great, so it comes as no surprise that Atlus would include both a soundtrack CD and an art book as pre-order bonuses. Of all of Atlus' upcoming games Knights in the Nightmare includes the most swag.

The flood of Atlus spoils and bonuses have slowed down slightly, but I'm certain the spoils will return in time for the fall and winter (i.e. holiday) seasons. Wallets and bank accounts beware.

April 07, 2009: Entry edited to reflect changes in the Steal Princess release date. It had previously been listed as June 30th on Amazon.com but has been updated to an earlier May 19th release date.

Swag Alert: Limited Edition Fire Emblem Promo Art, Did You Get Yours?

By Angela Moseley on February 21, 2009 8:55 AM | Permalink | 3 Comments

Treasure Hunter is a new column that will cover my swag purchases, swag alerts, toys and anything of a collectible nature (that I can think of). This column will replace the swag alerts that previous fell under my Geek Babble columns. For the time being Treasure Hunter has no set day of the week. As for the name, it comes from one of my favorite abilities in Final Fantasy Tactics. Enjoy!

Unfortunately, I have nothing to contribute to Geoff's Ten Days of Street Fighter articles. Anyone who knows me knows that Street Fighter isn't my flavor when it comes to fighting games. Not because I hate SF, but I'm one of those very people who were alienated by the franchise back in the days of Street Fighter II. With that said, I do enjoy some fighting games, but for the most part I'm an RPG gamer. Which is why on Tuesday I was probably the only one at my local GameStop buying Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon instead of Street Fighter IV. Though the staff were kind enough to tear themselves away from SFIV so I could pick up my pre-order. I also managed to acquire a laser cel with my copy of Fire Emblem, and it looks pretty good.

I was able to pick up the cel on the day I pre-ordered the game, but thanks to Katsucon 2009, I didn't get to write about it sooner. Also, I'm not sure if it was acutally announced or not, but I did discover the existence of the laser cels via GameStop.com. This time around I'm glad I didn't pre-order at Game Crazy, although the staff usually tries to match GS' efforts with something else if asked about it. As for the 23,345 cels printed, local GameStops may have some left over but as always there are a few up on eBay at reasonable prices. The real lesson learned with swag is that it is probably best to shop around before pre-ordering.

Swag Alert: The Atlus Guessing Game Revealed.

By Angela Moseley on January 30, 2009 7:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you are a member of the Atlus Faithful and receive periodic e-mails from them no doubt you saw the vague e-mail sent out on January 23rd. The e-mail's title consisted of three questions marks and the body of the e-mail was just the curious image above. It was only possible to ascertain that a new Shin Megami Tensei series was either in the works, or on its way to North America. On January 27th it became clear that the latter possibility was indeed the case.

Atlus announced the sequel to Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon, would be released in North America on May 12th of this year. In addition to its extremely long title, the game will release with a Raiho plushie. Apparently Atlus plans to launch a limited number of copies of this game, so pre-ordering is probably the best way to ensure your copy. Even though some of us are having a hard enough time locating the original Devil Summoner, it's nice to see that games are still being released for the PS2. Hopefully by the time this new SMT title hits our shores I'll have a copy of the original game.

Getting Persona 4 Swag is an Expensive Affair Now

By Angela Moseley on December 11, 2008 9:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My Persona 4 Social Link Expansion Pack arrived in the mail yesterday morning. Fortunately, I was running late for my internship and was home to hear this large package being dropped in my door along with the mail. At seeing the large box my first thought was naturally, "What the hell is this?" Then I remembered, "Oh yeah, my Persona 4 stuff!" As soon as I got home I picked up my pre-order of the actual game and art book from Game Crazy. Now with more swag than I've ever collected at once from one video game I am complete.

I must say that the calendar is nothing short of gorgeous, and includes both U.S. and Japanese holidays. The Teddie plush is fairly cute, the t-shirt while nice, is an extra large and too big for me, and the soundtrack is a great deal. The first half, Side A is included with Persona 4, and the other half, Side B comes with the Expansion Pack. Given that the price of the entire soundtrack (imported) is $28.90 at Play-Asia.com, the Expansion Pack is more than worth it if you pre-ordered it back in October. But what if you didn't? Prepare to pay quite a bit more for it now.

I'd almost forgotten that the P4: Social Link Expansion Pack was a limited edition affair, so I wanted to see if anymore were available on Amazon.com. Low and behold, the going price was a whopping $250. As of today the lowest price is $174.98, as more sellers add their wares to the listings. On eBay getting one of the Social Link Expansion Pack units is more reasonable with prices running the gambit from low to high. As of the time of this writing the lowest priced pack is $15.50 with 17 bids (and six days left on bidding) and the highest is $200 with the "buy it now" option. Still, that's $50 cheaper than the most expensive pack at Amazon.

All of which is a bit incredible when you take into consideration the original price was only $30. I'm not sure how many people would be willing to pay up to $250 for what pretty much amounts to a t-shirt, 2009 calendar, soundtrack and plushie, especially in these hard economic times. However, I do know that if you slept on your chance to buy this pack at a reasonable $30, you missed out big.

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Recently in Toys and Swag Category

Treasure Hunter: The Real March Madness

Teasure Hunter - New Persona Revelations

Teasure Hunter: The return of Atlus Spoils. Kiss your hard earned cash goodbye.

Chasing the Red Cape

A few weeks worth of video game swag

Every 1st Saturday in May is the Real Holiday

Treasure Hunter: Keeping Track of the Barrage of Atlus Bonuses

Swag Alert: Limited Edition Fire Emblem Promo Art, Did You Get Yours?

Swag Alert: The Atlus Guessing Game Revealed.

Getting Persona 4 Swag is an Expensive Affair Now

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