WayForward's Austin Ivansmith is a pretty awesome guy

I hope he won't mind me calling him out like this, but I just have to extend a digital/virtual high-five to Austin Ivansmith, a director at WayForward Technologies.

A few days ago, I wandered onto deviantart.com in the hopes of finding a few pieces of gorgeous game-related art that could be discussed and/or drooled over here.

Before I had a chance to search for said images, though, I noticed that a heretofore-unread note was sitting in my deviantart mailbox. The note, of course, had been sent by Ivansmith and included a download code for WayForward's Mighty Flip Champs DX.



I'm guessing he saw the whiny post ("Why didn't somebody tell me Mighty Flip Champs received a PSP port?") I published about said PSP title a few weeks ago, but I can't say that with any certainty since the content of Ivansmith's rather succinct note was limited to the afore- mentioned download code and a cheery reminder to keep an eye out for the company's upcoming 3DS release, Mighty Switch Force (which he promised will "rock your socks off").

Since I've only played through the first few stages of Mighty Flip Champs DX thus far, I can't say much about it at the moment. I'll do my best to spend a bit more time with it this weekend, though, so I can share some impressions with all of you next week.

Reason #397 I could be considered an 'eccentric' (aka bat-sh*t crazy) gamer

I desperately want a PC Engine CD-ROM2 peripheral.

If you don't know what that means, here's a photo of said system (connected to the original, white PC Engine console):





I know what some of you are thinking: That doesn't seem all that insane. Plenty of people probably want a PC Engine CD-ROM2 peripheral!

I'd love to agree with you, but I can't. Why? Because I already own a PC Engine Core Grafx II console and its piggybacking Super CD-ROM2 peripheral. (Here's a photo of both of them, and here's another.) As such, picking up the original CD-ROM2 attachment at this point seems at best a bit silly and at worst completely bonkers.

Still, I want it. As for whether or not I'll ever actually acquire one, well, that's another question entirely...

See also: Other reasons I could be considered an 'eccentric' (aka bat-sh*t crazy) gamer

For those of you wondering: Yes, I'm still waiting for my copy of Xenoblade Chronicles to arrive

I just noticed that this post--"My copy of Xenoblade Chronicles has been 'despatched'"--is getting a lot of hits this week. I'm guessing that's because some of you are eagerly awaiting my impressions of this import-only Wii title?

Unfortunately, it has yet to show up on my doorstep--despite the fact that it was "despatched" over a month ago. (On Aug. 15, to be exact.) I can't really complain, though, as I knew before placing my order that The Hut Group has a history of painfully slow shipments.



That said, here's hoping my copy of Xenoblade Chronicles is still meandering its way across the ocean and hasn't been lost or otherwise "mishandled"...

See also: Previous Xenoblade/Xenoblade Chronicles posts

Bring out the champagne: Grand Knights History is coming to the States 'this winter'

Earlier today, the folks at XSEED Games revealed that they'll be bringing Vanillaware's fabulous, fantastical RPG, Grand Knights History, to the States "this winter."

They also revealed that this PSP title, which hit Japanese store shelves on Sept. 1 and has since sold nearly 100,000 copies in that region, will be released both digitally (via the PlayStation Network) and physically (on a good ol' UMD).

I'm planning on picking up the UMD version myself--assuming the North American version's cover art is the same as its Japanese counterpart (right). (Oh, who am I trying to kid? I'll buy the UMD version regardless.)

Don't fret if you're a European PSP owner/user: Rising Star Games will be publishing Grand Knights History in your region sometime in 2012.

For more information on this luscious-looking game, read XSEED's press release announcing its localization.

See also: 'Give me Grand Knights History and I'll forget all about Monster Hunter Diary G' and 'Ooooooooooooooooh'

Professor Layton's London Life is going to look great, at the very least

I don't know about you, but the main reason I'm looking forward to Professor Layton and the Last Specter's North American release on Oct. 17 is that it will include a "100-hour RPG" called London Life.

Actually, the word on the street is that London Life isn't really an RPG. A much more accurate way to describe this unlocked-right-from-the-start bonus content, it seems, would be to call it a two-dimensional Animal Crossing clone that looks like Mother 3 and stars characters from the Professor Layton series.



Thankfully, those assertions seem to be at least partially supported by the trailer above, which hit YouTube yesterday thanks to the folks at GameXplain.com.

How many of you are planning to pick up a copy of this, the fourth installment in Level-5's Professor Layton series? Also, to those of you who answered in the positive: Are you doing so because of London Life, or is that just the icing on this pixelated, puzzling cake?

See also: 'Let's Play: Which Box Art is Better? (Professor Layton and the Last Specter edition)'