Disney Linkspam!
Y YES I LIVE! Sorry for the lack of updates - Banana 1 had finals this week (I wrote an 15 page paper on the Holocaust in an hour and a half, so BEAT THAT, BITCHES) - so to compensate, here’s a massive amount of linkspam.
Disney and More is holding a contest, and the prize is a rare Disneyland Paris “from sketch to reality” book! All you have to do is answer 12 questions related to Disneyland Paris. Deadline’s April 12th, 2008.
The Disney Blog is also holding a contest, and they’re giving away copies of the Platinum Edition of 101 Dalmatians! Just fill out their contest entry form, and the deadline is tonight, 12th March.
Disney Interactive Studios has released Disney Friends for the Nintendo DS to North America. It’s a simulation game that allows children to interact with characters in “The Lion King”, “Finding Nemo”, “Winnie the Pooh” and “Lilo and Stitch”. Apparently you’re supposed to make “long lasting friendships” with these characters by doing nice things such as questing and buying these characters things to keep them happy. DISNEY’S TURNING INTO SANTA. IT’S NOT REAL, CHILDREN!
My Friends Tigger and Pooh as well as the 2 Disc Platinum Edition of 101 Dalmatians (if you didn’t know already). For the latter, one special feature of note is the mangling rendition of “Cruella De Vil” by Disney Channel star Selena Gomez, and the usual “making of” blah blah.
Walt Disney looks for a collaboration to produce “cartoons to Asian tastes”. Dude, I’m Asian, and I can tell you the people who obsessively fangirl anime are decidedly NOT Asian.
Ratatouille (the game) becomes a “Platinum Family Hits” edition. I still don’t get why they want to make these things so special. It’s been barely a year; you don’t have to relegate it to “A CLASSIC GAME EVERYONE NEEDS TO PLAY” status yet!
The newest addition to the Baby Einstein DVD collection is Baby’s First Sounds: Discovery for Little Ears. Apparently you’re supposed to replay the DVD over and over again to your child and “expose [them] to the first sounds of language they will encounter in their daily lives.” Oh gee, I guess instead of just talking as you normally would, you should buy a DVD to teach your baby how!
Okay, that was shorter than I expected.
Kingdom Hearts II
Typically, I’m leery of sequels in general. I was obliged to observe the play of Kingdom Hearts II originally by an ex-boyfriend of mine who was a fan of the first one. I had watched him play that and it was possibly the only one that I had actually displayed any interest in, so he was keen to actually have something else which we would both be interested. (Does anyone wonder why he’s now an ex?) Aside from that, if one is even moderately interested in video games, it is nearly impossible to avoid sequels nowadays. Final Fantasy XIII, anyone?
Eventually I did play it myself. Of course, since I don’t enjoy 40+ hours of constant frustration, I played it first on Beginner Mode and more recently on Standard Mode. Having seen the difference between both versions, it seems that both are reasonably segmented in difficulty. Beginner Mode was too easy for me, even the first time, but I was insistent that I would finish it since I had started it. I think I would be most comfortable somewhere between Standard Mode and Proud Mode - which was far too hard for me.
Gameplay in KHII is incredibly improved. Options were added to allow for manual camera adjustment and even if I found that the camera automatically liked to settle a bit lower than preferred, if I was willing to keep my thumb on the control stick at all times, it would stay up where I wanted it. The fact that I could move it around as necessary was a much needed improvement and I am glad that Square-Enix took that to heart. The Gummi Ship levels still exist but don’t appear to be quite as hacked together as they were in KHI. They’re still annoying, but if nothing else, much prettier. All the same, they are extraneous and not required except to open the paths between worlds.
Easily the most annoying part of the game at first is getting used to the reaction commands, particularly when going directly from KHI to KHII with no game or time gap in between. The X button was the main button for use in KHI, whereas some events might require an X in KHII, while others require the triangle key. I got very good at pressing this key through the course of the game, as some battles require very quick fingers with it to even hope to win.
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