There is no emoticon for what I’m feeling

… but if there were, it would be very, very giddy.

More FFIV DS screenshots have been out for six whole days. And apart from the fact that Rosa’s outfit looks more like a bikini than ever and Big Chocobo looks like a rubber duckie, OH MY GOD. Small prices to pay.

I’m especially excited to see that Tellah retains his cartoonish appearance because, really, is it even possible for a normal human being to have that much hair?

At last, the twins don’t look to be the same height as everyone else! Palom kind of looks like a girl, but that’s all right. I’ll deal.

He does look spoony! Nicely done.

And now, to somehow not spontaneously combust for the next three weeks.

Meanwhile, commenters over at Kotaku are speculating that the long-awaited and much-anticipated remake of Final Fantasy VI just might be on the Wii. Bonus points if they can figure out how to incorporate the Wiimote into Aria de Mezzo Carattere.

TV shopping

I recently bought a Wii, as I’ve mentioned, without actually owning a TV to play it on. This has been the subject of much lighthearted mockery, but I’ve been vindicated by a) my repeated explanation that TVs are always in stock; b) not caving when others suggested I should set it up in the basement (where the house TV is), as it later semi-flooded.

The point is thus: For the first time in my life, I have to shop for a TV already aware that it has to accommodate multiple consoles. Growing up, a TV was a TV and the video games were something that happened to be played on the TV. And, of course, the games weren’t quite as visually kick-ass as they are now. My parents’ old 8×9 RCA, which was passed on to me for video game purposes when they bought a bigger unit, was perfectly fine for some SNES Final Fantasy II/IV action. But it wouldn’t cut it for Twilight Princess.

The other thing is that I don’t really watch a lot of TV. I own a handful of DVDs but don’t plan on subscribing to anything beyond basic cable once my new digs are set up.

So, then, what does the internet say about TV shopping with gaming in mind?

• Crutchfield Advisor has some neat advice for those of us looking to choose a TV that gets the most out of the current generation of consoles.
• But what about those of us whose console contingencies blend new and old schools? There’s an article for that, too. Sort of. It doesn’t cover the newer systems and even has a disclaimer to that effect.
• Meanwhile, a search for the exact phrase “best TV for video games” brings up a measly eight results. Skimming through them, I can see that a few people are pro-LCD, but that’s about it.

“And the heavens shall tremble.”

Oh. My. God.

Blizzard has just recently released a gameplay video. I have yet to stop salivating.

I can’t even begin to explain just how unbelievably awesome this is going to be.

The sounds of nostalgia

It goes without saying that Nobuo Uematsu and Koji Kondo are probably the best known video game composers, along with Yasunori Mitsuda and Yoko Shimomura, and that many of their best known and loved pieces were composed for games released on consoles packing 16 bits or more.

But when it comes to sheer, unbridled nostalgia, nothing beats NES tracks.

• Junko Tamiya’s score for Little Nemo: The Dream Master was exactly as light and whimsical as it needed to be without overshadowing the game itself. The remarkable thing is that, even more than 16 years later, the first eight bars of the level 5 theme* evoke feelings from I was six.
• I can’t tell you a single thing about Mystery Quest’s premise (and neither, apparently, can Wikipedia) but after only having ever rented it once or twice as a kid, I still remember the entire castle theme*. (This may or may not be related to my having spontaneously come up with lyrics in order to cope with its endless loop. “Going on a myst’ry quest, yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s a mystery.” What? WHAT?)
• There are more, of course, but I fear I will damage my nerd credibility and dilute the obscure quality of the two previous references by mentioning them. (Read: It’s 1:30 and I want to go to bed.)

* You’ll have to click through to listen to these, as the site doesn’t allow remote linking. That’s fair enough, but I want it known that I linked to the files with the intention of giving the site additional traffic, not just stealing their bandwidth.

This Is Why I’m Hot.

I was at Shopper’s Drug Mart a week ago covetously eyeing the DS Lite (sacrilege, or taking advantage of my Optimum points? You decide) and saw a case that I can’t find a picture of anywhere. But! It featured Mario whipping fireballs, captioned underneath with “This is why I’m hot”.

Greatest. Thing. Ever. And it even has a matching shirt.

*scuttles back to writing out her original ginormous first post that’s a week overdue*

Shiny

Apparently the North American box art for the upcoming (just over a month away, eee!) Final Fantasy IV DS has been released and no one told me I didn’t pick up on the tremor in the Force. It’s breathtaking. Mild spoilers after the jump.

I caved…

… and bought a Wii last night. Two reasons:

1. I recently got a full-time job and opted to celebrate by ending my Wii holdout despite not owning a TV. Yet. But TVs are always in stock.
2. If it’s good enough for Her Majesty…

So far I’ve been able to admire the box and flip through the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess user manual. It — or, more specifically, a free game of my choice that wound up being the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess — came with the warranty package I bought.

This brings my grand total of systems up to I Seriously Have No Idea. The Craigslist Miracle of 2008 (long story short: while casually browsing to see how much used GameCubes were going for on said site, I came across an individual who lived three streets away from me, was moving and wanted to get rid of a whack of older games and systems. I happily took his NES, SNES, PSone [one of his own plus two he found in the house while cleaning up], PS2, Atari Jaguar [...] and games for each off his hands) put me at five (seven counting the two superfluous Playstations) in addition to the stuff I left at my parents’ house when I moved out.

I’m looking for a new apartment. Room for my various systems is a must. I also need to buy a TV…

Ahoy

This blog was founded on the following tenets:

• We’re female and we dig video games.
• Group blogs are more fun than individual blogs.
• Whine all you like about “girl” being offensive. It’s a play on words.
• We do retro and new stuff. We’re versatile.
• We can kick your ass at Mario Parties 1-3, but we’ll have to get back to you on 4-8.
• Fun is good.

And yes, the individual on the left in our banner image is male. Can you find a better picture? Nevermind. We found one.