This is a story all about how my life got flipped, turned upside down. I’d like to take a minute, just sit right there, I’ll tell you how I became… engaged to Christina!

Our story begins in September of 2002 on a summer day in Roseville, California. I was 18, fresh out of high school, and enjoying the time before I started college. I was working as a bagger at a local grocery store, which wasn’t terrible at the time, and I made good enough money to support my gaming habits. I had taken a trip to my local awesome mall (oh Galleria, how I miss you) and stopped in at my local GameStop, not really looking for anything in particular.

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Lately, the blog has been a lot of stupid bullshit about me driving listening to F-Zero music and playing Rescue Rangers on the NES. While I am a big proponent of stupid bullshit, I also have a serious side. It’s not big, but it’s there (that’s what she said). So today, I want to talk about the issue concerning the legality of selling violent games to kids that is on its way to the US Supreme Court.

What is currently happening is that the Supreme Court has decided to hear both sides of the case in regards to a proposed California law, written by State Senator Leland Yee and signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2005. The law was challenged by industry representatives, and deemed unconstitutional.

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Alright Lunar fans, I’ve been promising a surprise for you all for a while now, so I think it’s time I came clean! I, and the rest of PK Bloggin’! are excited to say that Jessica Chavez of XSEED Games was kind enough to make time for us to do an interview, and even provide some great exclusive Lunar: Silver Star Harmony screenshots just for us! (I’ve never conducted an interview before, how exciting!) Even if you aren’t a Lunar fan, please enjoy it, since there’s a lot of great information here about the localizing process, and being part of the game industry in general.

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Christina and I have been spending a lot of time (now that we have free time) with Mass Effect for the Xbox 360. I bought it a while ago and never really got into it, but since the sequel came out I decided to give it another shot, and I’m really glad I did. Not only am I greatly enjoying the game, it’s also actually got me thinking a lot about how video games can function as a medium for storytelling.

BioWare is famous for their branching dialogue system they’ve used in their games, beginning with Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic on the original Xbox and PC. Your character never spoke, but there were pauses in conversations when you’d choose what your character would say next. Several complete sentences were presented, you’d choose one, and the conversation would continue based on how you responded. I loved KotOR, and while I didn’t realize it at the time, I was experiencing the first step towards defining video games as a unique method of telling a story.

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Lunar: The Silver Star, Silver Star Story, Silver Star Story Complete, Lunar Legend, and now, Silver Star Harmony…

As you can probably guess from that list, the first game in the Lunar saga has a bit of a convoluted history, with more remakes and rereleases than you can shake a stick at. There’s alot of argument among fans about which version is the best, and non-veterans of the series generally have no clue where to begin as a result. Despite all this, Lunar’s popularity these days is still quite a force to be reckoned with. Perhaps it is even because of that thriving fanbase that we’re about to get yet another installment in the series: Lunar: Silver Star Harmony. (more…)

EarthBound, released for the Super NES in 1995, is the very definition of a cult classic. Plenty of games have a strong fan following, but I can’t think of any other game that has a group of fans that are as passionate and dedicated as EarthBound does. Their love for the game, and the series as a whole, is so genuine and so deep, it’s a spectacular testament to creator Shigesato Itoi’s ability to strike a very personal chord with every player with his masterful storytelling.

Many of today’s EarthBound fans are in their mid to late 20s, having played the game for the first time when they were young. I’ve seen a few people on message boards talk about how playing through EarthBound once a year has been a tradition for them since the first time they booted it up.

I love EarthBound, as you can probably gather from the name and layout of the blog. It’s in my top 10 games of all time. Unlike many other fans, though, I don’t have fond memories of buying the game in 1995 and marveling at its giant box. I didn’t get to smell the scratch and sniff cards that came with the strategy guide. I don’t have the Mach Pizza Air Freshener. I didn’t play EarthBound when I was a kid. I didn’t get to play it until I was 24.

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