PS3

Way of the Samurai 3 came about back in November, but sadly it remains the best game I haven't played yet. Why? Because it was only released in Japan, and although PS3s are admirably region-free, the Japanese language's stubborn refusal to transform magically into English has transformed the prospect of importing a copy of it from a delightful dream into an utter waste of money.

So, until some publisher spends the absolutely minimal amount of money required to turn the menus and text into English, I'll have to be satisfied with a brief preview of a game that may never see a North American release.

(sigh)

He's after his cheddar... if by "cheddar" you mean "diamond-encrusted skull"

HIGH Co-op campaigns are always welcome.

LOW How quickly the game falls into stolid repetition.

WTF The entire story, pretty much.

Those of us that were looking for some real closure to Indigo Prophecy (Fahrenheit)—the ending didn't live up to expectations—will have to put our hope to rest. While publishers have approached David Cage, co-founder of Quantic Dream, about publishing a sequel—something I find really hard to believe—Cage himself has no interest in going back to that well.

Maybe it's for the best. That leaves him all the time in the world to focus on Heavy Rain. All accounts point to Heavy Rain as a worthy, spiritual successor.

Could this be the long rumored, and eagerly anticipated "sequel" to the adventure series (ICO and Shadow of the Colossus) that first appeared on the PlayStation 2?

"Project Trico" is purported to be an test footage of the PlayStation 3 follow-up to the two games. It does look early, but shows glimpses of what you might expect from the creators of ICO and Shadow of the Colossus. Here's hoping that a real game is in the works and something will make an appearance at E3.

Ragtag misfits firing guns in the woods

HIGH It's great to see more from characters who didn't get enough screen time.

LOW $5 seems a little high for one brief mission.

WTF Edy's the star of this DLC? Who liked her in the first place?

In between projects at the moment, I spent most of my game time today (which was not much) checking out the various Community games I've downloaded over the last few weeks.

Every Wednesday when I check out the new stuff on Live, I make a point of looking at the new Community offerings and queue up the trials for a day just like today when I want to play something, but I'm not quite ready to commit to something substantial. Anyway, I think I tried something like ten or twelve different titles, and only one of them was worth a damn.

Called Trino, you take on the role of a small, aquatic-looking life form that creates triangles in space. The point of it is to trap enemy creatures within the triangles to earn power ups and move on. It's sort of half-puzzle, half-action, and it has a very polished and "complete" feeling to it. I didn't spend a lot of time on it, but I paid for the download happily and I'll be getting to it in short order.