Lotta goodies coming up this month.  Punch-Out!! for the Wii, after Street Fighter IV, has been my most anticipated game to come out this year.  As a monstrous fan of the series (and the NES original specifically), I'm hoping it won't disappoint.  The Wii also gets another game I've really been looking forward to, and that would be Klonoa.  I'm looking forward to seeing what sort of changes they've made from the original, but in truth, it's been so long since I've played Door to Phantomile, that most of them may very likely go over my head. 

Gonna wait up on reviews for the new Bionic Commando.  GRIN nailed Rearmed perfectly, but let's see if they can take this badboy into the 3D realm proper.  Also going to see what the verdict is on Infamous - the premise sounds really cool, in any case.  As a shmup nut, I'll be sure to pick up Raiden Fighters Ace.  For only $20, I'd consider it a down payment to send a message to Microsoft: "START BRINGING OUT MORE JAPANESE 360 SHOOTERS OVER HERE, PLEASE."

Also, since I rarely ever go for gaming-related fashion, I just may go ahead and pick this up sometime.  It'd be perfect for the coming summer months.  ^_^

On the soundtrack front, it's all about movie scores.  Looking most forward to Giacchino's Star Trek and Up, though the latter doesn't appear to have an official soundtrack release announced as of yet.  Also planning on picking up Gregson-Williams' X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Elfman's Terminator Salvation.  It'll be particularly interesting to see what Giacchino and Elfman bring to the musical table for their respective franchises.

Since I missed both The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Valkyrie last year, I'll be sure to at least give the home releases a rental.

Looks like slim pickin's this month.

On the 360 front, I might check out Bionic Commando, since Rearmed had awesome music. I say 'might' because I wasn't fond of the NES original at all. We'll see. They also got the Fallout 3 expansions, The Pitt and Operation: Anchorage. I was disappointed by the ending in the game, but I wanna get the most out of the experience before I lay it to rest completely.

The Wii will at least be getting some love. Punch Out!! is hitting soon, and it'll be pretty grand, I'm sure. I liked the NES iteration decently enough, but I was a big fan of the SNES game. Klonoa remake looks swell, and that's a definite, if not this month, then shortly after. Always loved the first game.

Hrmm . . . . looking at the release dates on IGN, they got some game called Secret Files: Tunguska, a game pertaining to the mysterious explosion that rocked Russia in the earlier part of the 20th Century. I used to be into that kind of phenomena quite fiercely, and if it's a budget title, I might check it out. If only to see where they'd go with it. There are some impressively 'out-there' theories regarding the event so at the most, it's a curiosity of mine.

I was about to head over to the DS section, but I still haven't bought a new DS.

Edit: Oh! Gaygamer.net made a post a little while back. I guess Virtual On Oratorio Tangram is coming to XBLA. Aw, man. How am I gonna do this without the twin sticks?

Not too much for me on this front either:

Impetuth Original Soundtrack (yay for Supersweep shmup scores!)
Seventh Heaven (Kalafina) - I need something for Kalafina to sign when I meet them at the end of the month!
Star Onions -Sanctuary - The samples have a nice laid back feel to them

Not sure what I'll be picking up on the gaming front this month, if anything, but we shall see what the future holds...

Man, I'm not sure when Black Sigil is coming out.  It was slated for May 12, but then got pushed back to the 26th so who knows.  This is the DS RPG that suspiciously looks alot like Chrono Trigger.  Also, I already pre-ordered and am waiting for my copy of Super Robot Taisen OG Saga.  .... I'm buying it for the gameplay, I swear.  ... no, really!!....

Other than that, I'm jonesing for some good Anime blu-rays and some of those nifty art books Angela was talking about.  Any suggestions?

Wow, you are right. It definitely reminds me of Chrono Trigger, especially the text font.

This also looks like a Lavos wannabe: http://www.ebgames.com/common/images/ls … a07c-l.jpg

Maybe I'll have to check this out myself...

I've heard Giacchino's "Star Trek" and was disappointed by it... but I'm still looking forward to his "Land of the Lost" and especially "Up." Pixar brings out the best in him.

Elfman's Terminator should be fun as well...

Whoa, I had no idea he was scoring Land of the Lost -- that could end up being a lot of fun.  Surprised to hear about Star Trek, though; I've heard samples of two of the tracks, "Labor of Love" and "Hella Bar Talk", and they sounded quite excellent.  Does he arrange the main Theme from Star Trek anywhere?

Also, I can't believe I forgot to mention Boom Blox Bash Party.  This is definitely the Wii's month to shine. :)

Oh, isn't Kingdom Hearts Piano Collections this month (specifically, tomorrow)? I think I might buy that. Gotta hear some samples before I commit.

Also, this is technically an APRIL purchase, but I just found out that on April 22nd, Dark Horse comics printed a North American, hardcover version of Dawn: The Worlds of Final Fantasy. It's Yoshitaka Amano art from FFI~IV, and used to be an import-only thing. Now it comes with full English text. Interviews, insights, etcetc...I totally just Amazon'd this one. $18 on Amazon. That's awesome.

Ramza

Nothing much of interest to me coming out this month, which is just as well cos I have to save my money for getting married on the 5th and everything

I'll be jumping on Fallout 3's Broken Steel DLC IMMEDIATELY though, cos I've been waiting for them to raise the bloody level cap.
As soon as I get that I'll play through the entire game one last time, cos I haven't played Anchorage and the Pitt yet either.

Samples can be found here: http://www.square-enix.co.jp/music/sem/page/piano_kh/

Those are two of the stronger tracks. In general, the slower emotional tracks fare well. It's the action that rambles on without much focus. More like Mission Impossible III's action than say, Ratatouille or even Speed Racer. He quotes his main theme often but it's not very interesting and he doesn't do much with it.

One thing I keep in mind is that it's a 45 minute release out of a 90-100 minute score. We probably got most of the action highlights but I'm interested to see what's been left out.

And yes, you'll hear the original Star Trek title music in the end credits. There's also the fanfare, heard a few times.

Most of what has my attention this month is Wii stuff, which seems unusual somehow. Anyway, Klonoa is a YES (I feel duty-bound since I told Bamco I'd buy it if they'd localize it), Boom Blox Party and GGX Accent Core are Probablies, and Punch-Out!! is (sorry) a Wait-and-See. Outside of that, maybe Steal Princess on DS and perhaps the new Bionic Commando if it turns out OK.

Case Closed Season 5 is coming out as well...I really don't have a good excuse to not be collecting those already; I adored it back when Cartoon Network was showing cartoons.

Dang...belated congratulations , man. Happy Cinco de Marryo.

Thanks!

It's not the 5th yet though, so you're still in time

Hey, it's breaking news!  Congrats!

STC bachelor party time!!  *hands out beers to everyone*

Any interesting honeymoon plans?

Whoa... congrats, Amazingu! That's awesome, man.

I won't be buying anything new this month, but I have a few GCN games that I want to add to my library... nothing too special, just a few favorites from the PS2 that I'd rather play on the GCN, like Tomb Raider Legend and Timesplitters: FP.

Hm, 45 minutes is a rather short run time for a Giacchino film score.  That's sort of surprising, too.  In any case, I'm really looking forward to both film and soundtrack; from what everyone's making it out to be, this could be The Dark Knight of 2009, in terms of sheer quality and popularity.

And a big shout-out of 'grats to Amazingu.  Hope your significant other turns out as A-Class as you. ;)

Congrats, man! I'll drink to that.

Congrats Amazingu!  Where's the honeymoon (so we can all come crash it )?!

I seriously doubt that, especially on the second count.  Am quite looking forward to the film though.

Will wait to see what the verdict is on the controls for Punchout Wii but I'm hopeful.  And if I wind up importing that from America (I always find it ironic when I say that) might order Boom Blox Bash Party along with it, even with the awful graphics.

Gregson-Williams scoring Wolverine OST looks to be a combination I can't refuse.  And though I'm not a huge fan of the first Star Onions album, I like the samples for Star Onions: Sanctuary and the seemingly more consistent sound for the album as a whole.

Congratulations Amazingu!!

Thanks everybody!

No money for a honeymoon or proper ceremony yet, that'll have to wait I'm afraid.
But anyone who wants to come over to Japan to celebrate is always welcome

Thanks for the link.

Samples sound RATHER underwhelming. There are so many tense, fast-paced battle themes in KH and they seem to have thrown them aside in favor of mushy character themes. No thanks.

"13th Side" has some promise. But where the hell is DESTATI?

Ramza

I recommend checking out the June 2008 issue of Scientific American. The only eyewitness to survive and provide details was a farmer named Semen Semenov. He was 40 miles from ground zero and was knocked flat on his ass. Using computer models, scientists are pretty sure the blast was equivalent to 1,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs. We can't find the impact crater because the asteroid (or comet) exploded about 5 miles above the surface. That's why nearly 800 square miles of trees were flattened.

  As for May purchases, I've only preordered the new Star Onions album so far.

*snicker*

I got you covered buddy, here's your Honeymoon!
http://i39.tinypic.com/34pntyh.jpg

Just picked up and listened through the soundtrack on my way to work this morning.  I was doing warp 5 all the way on the highway.  ^_^  I'm really liking it.  The action cues do sound somewhat separated without their visual purpose, but they still resonate with Giacchino's rich, trademark bombast.  (Nailin' The Kelvin is so, so good.)  I like the epic, militaristic scope of the score in general, and I gotta disagree, I'm really enjoying the new main theme; its use in Hella Bar Talk and Enterprising Young Men are particularly excellent.  And he also does justice to the original theme, as always.

But yeah, at 45 minutes, it's over way too quickly.  I wonder if there's any chance of a complete score released online, a la Speed Racer?

I'll take you up on that, but all signs are at least pointing up there in the field of quality.  Still riding high on 100% at Rotten Tomatoes as of now; even TDK managed a Rotten or two before its official theatrical release.

Probably not, no. I got the impression they released all of Speed Racer by mistake because the stream didn't stick around. With all the complete Speed Racer bootlegs out there, I doubt they'll make that mistake again.

I still don't care for the main theme but the rest of the score is starting to grow on me with repeated listens. The big climatic "Nero Death Experience" is especially fun.

My selections from May 2009's releases:

DVDs/BRDs:
-Seth McFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy

CDs:
-Sanctuary / The Star Onions
-Piano Collections Kingdom Hearts

Games:
-Klonoa (Wii)
-Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (Wii)

i plan on repurchasing another Wii with HOUSE OF THE DEAD 2 & 3 this month.  (sold them to a GameStop store in Paramus, New Jersey last year)

I really liked that disc a lot, and i miss it already..

Also, i'm finally getting

TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY

CASINO

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

TIME-COP

ROBOCOP 1

AKIRA

(blue-Ray versions)

May is always Movie-Month for me!

Congratulations, man.

I can't believe they're actually going with a pg-13 theatrical release.

i can only hope that the Blue-ray edition is Unrated so that we can truly experience the director's complete vision..

The director is McG. What makes you think his vision is any more than a PG-13? From the sounds of a recent review at AICN, it is PG-13 not just in violence or whatever but in the actual feel of the movie.

Where the hell are we even supposed to pick this up? CD Japan, Cocoebiz, and Play-Asia don't even have any entry for it...

What? You mean I'm going to have to wait till the DVD to see the movie the way it was meant to be. Hell, I saw T2 uncut when I was 8~10. Still is great freakin' movie.

I'm making it a priority to see Terminator Salvation even though my car is being annoying (what the hell is wrong with you car?) and Terminator 3 left somewhat of a bad taste in my mouth in a few respects even though I love the anti-climatic ending.

VGM World has been on break due to Japanese holiday but I usually just contact Kahori directly since she doesn't have to wait to add it to her website for me to order it. From there, it's just like a normal business transaction.

i'll definitely be skipping it then.

What a shame..