Don’t get me wrong, I still love my Wii, really. But I still have a PS2 and it’s always don;t right by me, so I’m still getting the odd game here and there for it. It’s a damn good console and deserves dome love. PS3…not so sure.

Yesterday, I popped into a GameStop and picked up a couple of used games. I have one of those memberships that gives me a discount on used shit, so I tend to check out what they’ve got whenever I go to one. Anyway, I picked up a copy of the game, Okami and I’m just fucking blown away.

Using cell-shading with a strong emphasis on a ink and brush style, reminiscent at times of Ukiyo-e, anime and classical Japanese brush-and-paper art, the style, look and mood of Okami is equal parts cute, hypnotic and beautiful, evoking a dreamy, fairytale-like atmosphere, entirely different in style but (to me) reminiscent of the game Shadow of the Colossus in its ability to evoke a full-fleshed and mysterious world through atmosphere and art.

The game makes light-hearted use of Shinto legends—the main protagonist being an incarnation of Amaterasu O-Mi Kami in the form of a white wolf. You’re running around, fighting weird demons and interacting with talking animals and your sidekick is a temper-challenged, sword-wielding flea. It’s a fun, but strange game. Fighting is especially interesting with an ability to make special moves by pausing the action and using a brush to paint ink in certain patterns to activate attacks.

Okami has got to be one of the 10 best games I’ve ever played—at least on the PS2. I’ve heard there won’t be a sequel, which is damn unfortunate.

Yesterday, I was given a free CD of the band, “Velvet Revolver“. Pansy-ass cock-rock is absolutely not my thing, but I figured I’d listen to it just for kicks. As I was peeling off the plastic wrapping, I noticed that SONY/BMG was the publisher of the album. Antennas fully perked, I checked out the fine print and sure enough, I had one of those completely fucked up, root-kit installing, DRM-up-the-wazoo CDs of doom and destruction.

Now, since I run Linux, I’m immune to the evil these CDs inflict. On the flip side, I may be immune, but it doesn’t really matter since the CD won’t even play on my computer since I don’t use Windows or Mac which work with DRM. As a result, this CD went straight to the fucking trash bin. No way am I going to sell it or even give it away. It’s fucking poison and the only reason I’m not rip-shit mad about it is that I got it for free and I could give a rat’s ass about the band.

Call me crazy but I’m sure as fuck not going accept or pay money for a CD that will infect my computer with DRM enforcing software and leave a back-door that can open me up for a viral infection and compromise my personal data just to listen to a fucking music album. Furthermore, I’m not going to use an OS who’s terms of use stipulate that in order to use my computer, my rights go out the window and I have to drop panties and bend over my keyboard and self-sodomize myself with my mouse in order to appease the corporate gods because while I may have purchased my computer, the operating system and the CD, they own my soul and have patents on my DNA and therefore all rights and ownerships are forfeit.

Fuck that shit with a rusty screwdriver.

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A few days ago, after spending a wretched day renewing my ID at the hell that is the Brooklyn DMV, I picked up a copy of “Shadow of the Colossus” for the PS2 to brighten my day. I had no idea what it was about, but chose it because somewhere at some point I’d glanced at a review that raved about it. This is basically how I buy all games as I’ve a decided lack of patience to read gamer sites and magazines. I usually will subscribe to an RSS feed and scan the photos and titles. Games that get a bunch of posts, stick in my memory and usually end up getting purchased in moments of consumer weakness, which is often.

The format of your run-of-the-mill action game is: fight, fight, fight…boss scene. Fight the boss and then it’s back to fight, fight, fight til the next boss scene and the game eventually ends. Nothing wrong with it, I suppose but the boss fights have historically always been my least favorite parts. Give me a room with twenty little baddies that I have to kill á la God of War and I am one happy fucking camper. Games that are boss-heavy usually begin to collect dust shortly after purchase.

SotC is all bosses. There’s nothing else to the game, unless you count running from point A to B. There’s not baddies in between to slay. You go from one boss monster to another and while normally this would have me hating this game, I find myself hooked. SotC doesn’t have just any old bosses. These bastards are HUGE, gorgeously rendered behemoths that combine action, puzzle-solving and strategy to beat. The graphics, scenery and feel are hot shit. Strange, mysterious and moody. There’s little or no dialog in the game so the huge dream-like world sprawled out before you, unoccupied but for the mountainous beasts reminiscent of something out of HP Lovecraft is simply there to wonder about.

The hero of the game is this dinky little fucker, armed with only a sword and bow and a horse to ride. Pitted against giants literally fifty times larger, the little dude has to expose and attack the monster’s weak points. This is accomplished by figuring out how and managing to climb the boss, get to his weak spots and stab the fuck out of them before you lose your grip and fall. Tense shit.

There’s something to be said about a game revolving around my least enjoyed facet of the action genre that manages to completely entertain me. SotC is a great game on so many levels, from the concept to the anime-like look. It’s a short game, there being only sixteen bosses to battle, which sucks since this is a game that keeps you wanting to see more. More bosses, more areas, more everything.

I’ve become completely addicted to playing the game Katamari Damacy for the PS2. If you’ve never played it before, go out and get it right now.

You control this miniscule little galactic prince with an oddly shaped head, whose task is to roll a ball around various places on Earth, collecting items via a kind of “stickiness” property of the ball. As the ball gets larger by virtue of the things sticking to it, you are able to attach bigger and bigger items. From sushi and cookies to cattle, police officers and buildings, your goal is to create as big a ball or “katamari” as possible. Finished katamari are lifted to the heavens and made into stars by your enormous, gold chain macking father. It’s a pretty simple premise.

The game has a surreality reminiscent of the Teletubbies and some of the more intense drug-abusing moments of my adolescence. All the weird shapes, styles, colors and constant references to “rolling” have me making a few guesses about the lfestyle of the creator, a guy who claims to dislike video games. Regardless as to whether anyone at Namco did any inhaling when making this game, the fact is that I cannot stop playing it. Katamari Damacy is wildly addictive. There’s a very strong satisfaction you get when your katamari starts getting big. Once you hit the size where you are big enough that people run screaming from you, there’s a certain Godzilla-like thrill that I can’t recall feeling in a video game before. Rolling a massive ball of buildings, cars, people and everything in between down the street, glomming everything you touch is a joy you should experience rather than trust my word for.

The graphics are basic, silly and cartoonish in a likeable and iconic way. The soundtrack is by far the most original I have ever heard—from Japanese hip-hop to a capella beat-boxing and ambient electronica, I don’t think there’s a stranger sounding game out there.

At twenty bucks from most large retailers, there’s really no excuse not to drop everything and pick up a copy. You’ll be a Katamari maniac in no time, dressing up as the prince and making all kinds of katamari-like food and other assorted homecrafts. Just check the photos tagged on Flickr and you’ll get the idea.