Current Gaming

Hello friends, welcome back.

So i've reached the 35 hour mark with Final Fantasy 13. So far this has been an enjoyable adventure and part of me is surprised how this game has managed to grab and HOLD my attention for so long.

I've been saying this the whole time, but I haven't enjoyed an RPG this much since Final Fantasy 8.

Thanks to a good friend of mine, i recently scored a Mad Catz Street Fighter 4 arcade stick on clearance (making room for the Super Street Fighter 4 sticks i assume). I know some of you out there are thinking "Ew Mad Catz?!?" but i have to admit this joystick is very well built, and the price was oh so right ($29.99 w/ free shipping - how could i say no?). The most interesting point about this purchase is that historically, i have been in the control pad camp for playing Street Fighter (this is based around having Street fighter 2 Special Champion Edition and the 6 button pad for the Genesis way back in the day, and then re-enforced by my Sega Saturn and it's flawless rev 2 6 button control pad). It's no secret that the d-pads on both the PS3 and the 360 are terrible (to say the least) for fighting games - and finding one of the Mad Catz Street Fighter 4 pads for a reasonable price was proving to be a pain, so i took the plunge.

I must say, right off the bat the stick felt nice in my hands and on my lap. I must have spent about 20 minutes just clicking the buttons and checking out the stick's action.

I'll report back with an update on the effect on my playing - i am rather rusty at the moment so it's hard to judge. I'm sure i'll also have an update once i get my hands on Super Street Fighter 4.

In other news, i may have found a "game" for the iPhone that's able to hold my attention. X-Plane on the iPhone is VERY worthy of the X-Plane name. I've always loved that flight sim on the PC, but to see it scaled down for the iPhone while retaining most of the core gameplay? Pretty damn impressive.

Until next time!