Ack, Busy Again

Just when I thought I’d cleared out my weekend for 48 Hours Of Rock (Guitar Hero 2 is arriving on these shores the day after tomorrow) I get hit with more work on scripts.

The video game documentary is now moving onto its fourth draft, and this, hopefully, will be the last since they need to start shooting next week. So much for burning through Final Fantasy XII and Guitar Hero 2 for a few days.

Also, I have been tasked to review a new music game called Elite Beat Agents for the DS which has already enjoyed an earlier Japanese release and has now been localized for Westerners. They ditched the old songs–which as far as I can tell where all J-Pop–and replaced them with hilarious selections like September by Earth, Wind & Fire, YMCA by the Village People and even Material Girl by Madonna. A cursory playthrough reveals that this may, in fact, be the funniest game released on the DS to date, but it’s definitely got a western sensibility to it that may not carry over very well with die-hard Japanese loving gamers of Singapore. The game is based around the eponymous agents, who run around cheerleading peopkl through their various challenges and giving the will and spirit Through The Power Of Music to succeed. Few people here can relate to the travails of a baby sitter in love with a jock football player, or a washed up batter trying to reclaim his former glory and get back into baseball. But it’s just ridiculously fun to play, though you’ll probably need headphones and monitor yourself in public to keep from tapping your foot to the rhythm or grinning like an idiot for no apparent reason at the onscreen hi-jinks.