The ultimate SRPG is set for an August release.

The magic of Disgaea is in the minutia. Where most games only give you one helping, Disgaea offers an all-you-can-eat buffet. The next installment of NIS’ flagship SRPG series, titled Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice, is making the jump to the PlayStation 3 and is set for a US release in August. Some may balk at the chosen console, but NIS America has long supported Sony and though the graphics still preserve that “old school” look (a big thank you for that BTW), there will be that much more room to cram in all the little things that keep fans playing for hundreds of hours.

If static images aren’t enough to get you excited, check out the trailer! Make sure to cast your vote for the songs and cover art you’d prefer on the Disgaea 3 bonus soundtrack: http://disgaea.us/vote/. Expect a full review a little closer to launch (and let’s hope they release some new figures to accompany this latest release).

Hori will soon release the Real Arcade Pro EX for the Xbox 360.

Just in time for the many fighters coming the 360’s way, Hori is offering (finally!) a quality joystick. Sure many of us have made due with cheaper sticks, but this is the real deal. Next to custom, the Real Arcade sticks are your best bet for arcade quality components at a decent price. Ok, so usually you can get an HRAP for around $100 or a little higher. Well it turns out that this particular stick is exclusive and will be pretty darn rare. National Console Support is selling them for a whopping 218 bucks. Ouch.

Tentative release date is early July. Nice looking stick: http://www.hori.jp/products/xbox360/controller/realarc_pro_ex/ . Not sure if it is worth the price tag, especially when you can get a really nice custom for that, such as my custom (shameless plug but had to give my bro props for making me such a nice stick):

If you’re interested in more about the Hori Real Arcade Pro series of sticks, there’s an excellent FAQ over at SRK: http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=95713

Alternative medicine offers new options for gaming.

Some of you may have heard of Biofeedback. I for one, never associated it with gaming, until a colleague mentioned how a number of companies are now forming interactive experiences around the concept. Wikipedia has a pretty good article on it, well at least it sounds credible enough to me. It sums up Biofeedback as:

"…a form of alternative medicine that involves measuring a subject's quantifiable bodily functions such as blood pressure, heart rate, skin temperature, sweat gland activity, and muscle tension, conveying the information to the patient in real-time. This raises the patient's awareness and conscious control of their unconscious physiological activities."

While it's primary use it to teach us to better relax, imagine if it was used to effect character and environment status in a game? All the health nuts could claim one more beneficial use for gaming and gamers would gain further interactivity. There are some primitive interactive experiences right now, but what if the atmospheric marvel that is BioShock used Biofeedback as part of the engine? Your character could respond based on your body's response. The angrier you get, the worse you aim. Your heart rate increases, so you fatigue more quickly. The more calm you are, the better you perform. Would it even be possible to build in this kind of logic to a typical controller? My gym has treadmills with basic heart-rate monitors that respond to touch… Could they be developed further to do even a primitive amount of interaction and would anyone besides me even want to see it happen?

And what about everyone's favorite survival horror series? Resident Evil would be insane if it could incorporate this functionality. As we move towards perfecting open gaming and more interactive experiences, this is one area that could really be developed. Right now, there are PC-based experiences that incorporate Biofeedback, but I would love to see it in console games, especially the good ones with atmosphere so thick you can taste it.

So what are your thoughts? Too far off in the horizon to even care? It may not work for all genres, but FPS and survival horror are ripe test pilots for it.

This blog article should be recognized as the sole opinion of the editor and does not necessarily reflect GotNext's official position on the subject.

Freedom is a lot more addicting than I thought.

You have to understand that it isn't my fault that I have largely shunned "open" games. I was after all raised on console and arcade games that made me this way. They gave me each piece in the puzzle and even the directions to assemble it. I didn't need to worry about the fact that what the game was asking me to do was a blatant waste of time. Talk to the town baker, who will give you the golden pancake batter that you will then grill up to a nice golden brown to appease the ogre that is blocking the entrance to the cave that holds some pointless object that you need to impress the king so he will give you a key that you can then use to gain entrance to the vaults where an all powerful sword resides that you can use to free the princess from the clutches of evil. Nevermind the fact that the king is the one who wants you to free his daughter. He still makes you do all that crap. And we did it. And I've doing it ever since, for more than 20 years. And I probably will do it until the day I die. Because for some sick reason, I keep coming back.

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Despite some brief fun, Umbrella Chronicles is far too shallow.

So, no I am not dead. I was on vacation and got to catch up on some serious gaming including Heavenly Sword (man this is a short game), Folklore (slow moving in the beginning, but gorgeous and interesting), BioShock (all I can say is an all-caps WOW), Stranglehold (I actually got a copy as a gift and am loving it), and Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, which I got to enjoy in 2-player glory all the way through to the end. I had some fun for the first 5 hours or so, but there just isn't enough substance to consider this a great addition to the Resident Evil universe. The addition of 2-player is a major plus and actually made me want to replay missions more often. More guns equals more chances to find all the hidden stuff in each level.

My first and biggest gripe is the lack of upgradeable handgun. It's the most used weapon and one that should be more versatile. Depending on the character, your handgun will be different, but none are too useful on the harder enemies. Another minor gripe? Using counter (which are really awesome for the some of the characters), puts you in closer range to other zombies and often equals getting swiped for some serious damage. Sure you can ready the shotgun and pop a quick headshot if you are lucky, but I was expecting it to be a little less dangerous and a little better at crowd control.

Overall, the game is fun and would definitely benefit from more missions, better weapon upgrades and management, and a cheaper price tag. Worth a rental, but probably not a purchase. It was nice traveling back through the history of the games and I can't wait to see what they do with 5.

Besides consoles, I spent more time on Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness PSP–an absolutely addicting game. I also jumped on the HD bandwagon and thanks to the $98 HD DVD sale at Wal-Mart, now own a couple HD DVDs and am actually wishing HD DVD would win the war (though I'm afraid it probably won't). Let's just say that upconversion on the Toshiba HD-A2 is fantastic and I needed a new DVD player anyway, so I can justify the purchase should HD DVD lose out. I also have decided to get a PlayStation 3 at Christmas time to enjoy all the stuff not released on HD DVD, which is primarily a lot of Asian Blu-ray releases, such as Old Boy, Flash Point, and Paprika. The nice thing about owning the hardware is that Netflix has huge libraries for both, meaning I don't need to own very many at all.

Well it's off to the Netherworld again.