Click here to see the map of our booth locations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=TOYs2zjocKQ

Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year’s! Its certainly been chilly here in the Southwest lately! I wanted to take a minute to catch you up on the recent events here at the store and a little about the newest Harvest Moon.

Let’s start with the game, of course! I’ve been playing Harvest Moon: A New Beginning lately on my 3DS and I have to say I love it! If you’ve never played a Harvest Moon or Rune Factory game before they’re a RPG life/farm simulation game with many different options of what you can do. With this newest title I haven’t found one thing I haven’t liked yet, and I’m not all that far into the game either!

Following your coming of age you take on the family farm in a hardly there town called Echo Village that is taking a turn for the worse with people moving out. Your job is to revitalize the town while you work on your farm. As always there are available bachelors/bachelorettes to choose. Not only are there two new animals, the yak and llama, and two new crops, cactus and cotton, but all the good options from all the other games you loved are in this one or improved! I could rant on and on about it but if you’ve been a fan, or wondered if they’re any good the answer is a solid YES!

For more information check out the Wikia, Youtube, or shoot me a question!

For the store we’re getting pumped for moving down next to Baggin’s in early March to expand the store! Look for more details as it gets a little closer but I can tell you the stuff I’ve heard sounds awesome!

We’re also working on our 2013 Camp details and we’d love to hear from you, the parents and kids. Here’s a few of the new things that’s on our minds.

Having 3 different full day camps available

• 7-13 Gamer
• 14-18 Design

Sorry I can’t give much more details then that, but we’re still in the planning stages. I’m really excited about the Beginner class and we’d love to do it, do you think you’d be interested in it if we had one?

We’d love to hear from you and we want to host a parent get-together or maybe even do something at schools if there was enough interest. Give us a shout and grab a cup of Hot Cocoa from Tazzina di Gelato if you’re in the area, its delicious trust me.

New video out today is even in English instead of Kanji woo hoo! Feast your eyes on this beauty.

Who wouldn’t want to be a mayor of their own town?! It does make me wonder where the dear tortoise got to though. And be sure to watch the whole video, K.K. is rocking some new music.

With all the customization available this is sure to be something great to play. Here’s hoping its sooner rather than later in 2013!

Darksiders 2

Borderlands 2

Guys! What’s up? Robbie here and it’s been a while since I’ve gotten a review to you because I’ve been doing some catch up on my new PS3. That’s right, I’m fully into the Seventh Generation in gaming. But now that I’ve caught up on all of the games I’ve missed out on sine becoming an employee at Katana Games, it’s time to do a review. Two new releases a lot of people were very excited about during pre-release, Darksiders 2 and Borderlands 2. Let’s start with the latter shall we?

Darksider’s 2

I won’t speak much on the problems Darksider’s fans went through before the release of the apocalypse’s much anticipated sequel. So when I saw copies of it at Target, I was surprised that I had completely forgotten about it and went to Katana to pick up my copy, went home and started playing.

The first great thing I noticed about Darksiders 2 was the similar game control from the first one, which was great! Because nothing goes better with a hack and slash than consistent controls everyone is used to. The style remains smooth and a lot of the combos also remain the same until a larger array of combos is gained and Death really differs from War.

Let’s cut down to brass tacks…what’s different about this game. One of the things I could quite get over was the menu selection. It was much more cluttered, it seemed as though they wanted to liven the menu up as opposed to making it user-friendly and organized. Alright so that be a bit nitpicky and can easily be overlooked. I mean, if we really want to talk user-friendly what’s so hard about X,X,X,Y? I mean, it’s a hack and slash right? Well, you’d only be partially right there.

It almost seems like Darksiders is having identity issues and can’t decide whether it’s a hack and slash or a RPG. Some of the first items you find are old clothes, boots and cleaves and what have you. My question here is…why does Death need clothes? One of the Four Horsemen comes down from the heavens and doesn’t even have the best clothing that could be constructed by nether forces? I mean, the guy is the living embodiment of the end of life, why doesn’t he have is own spike covered, hex proof battle armor made to impale angels and demons alike.

Don’t worry, that’s not the only RPG aspect immediately present in Darksiders, instead of a preliminary second weapon like the Ghost Scythe, we have a bunch of different weapons you find much like the clothes each with their own different array of stats to compare to the old, more worn one. While you do find and forge bigger, cooler weapons, it doesn’t make me immediately forget that the RPG element lingers over my head.. The designers forgot about what originally made Darksiders easy to understand and fun and added this mechanic into it that was almost too foreign.

Aside from all of the little quirks and bugs that the game had, Darksiders had as solid foundation based on game-play, graphics, story and character development. The world had been reclaimed by nature, giving an almost more, beautiful look to the world (minus the hellish brimstone parts and demonic monsters walking about). It created almost a different type of playing environment for the game and I appreciated that in a game that tried to differentiate itself from its predecessor.

Finally, the story further expands on The Four Horseman and their lives but there are still a few subtle hints into more sequels, possibly involving Strife and Fury. The characters become more in depth as you progress and the recurring characters from the first game even gain more life and development. You grow attached to them and for me, that’s huge points at least in the writing portion of the game.

Darksiders 2 was indeed a direct sequel but as sequels go, it deserves a separate rating as though it was it’s own game, not under the looming shadow of a giant. As a lost sequel with an identity crisis, Darksiders 2 earns a 6/10. As it’s own game with great and glorious game-play and awesome mechanics from other games, it gets a 8/10. So overall this game gets a 8/10.

Darksiders 2

8/10

Borderlands 2

While a hack and slash doesn’t make much sense with hints of RPG in it, the legendary Borderlands series perfected FPS/RPG fusion to an art. We’ve all been waiting for this game for a while, so there’s no need to sugar coat it…it’s awesome. They’ve fixed things in it like item combat pickup, where you just need to walk over them and much more. Plus we get…awdawdsvc….assdvioa19awd0482deiladv….aef.aefs5342e23f13s54f65dv1nsvrjkdc………………….zzzzzzzzzzzzzzadxaw23465w542eas32dfcasec55v……………………..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…

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Hello. Sorry about the interruption. My name’s Angel, commonly known as the Guardian of the Vault Hunters and AI companion on Pandora. Instead of the usual gaming consultant giving you an idea of what the world of Pandora had waiting for you, I took the privilege of hacking this under secured system in order for you to get a better idea of your waiting adventure. But…to be honest…I’m pretty bad at sharing information on a reasonable and humane level. Therefore, in order to tell you more about the mysterious planet of Pandora, I have a little robot you may or may not be familiar with.

Welcome travelers and Vault Hunters alike! My production designation is CL4P-TP, but everyone I know calls me Claptrap and seeing as I only know you, you’re going to be calling me Claptrap! See? It’s already like we’ve known each other for forever! We’re going to be such good friends! This announcement is for most of you that have been to our lovely planet of Pandora first and for those of you that haven’t, don’t worry about it! You’ll catch up soon! Here we gooooooo!

Welcome back to those of you who are returning! A lot has changed since you’ve left! The vault was opened…by humans! Unbelievable huh? Humans can actually do something useful after all…oh…most of you are human…ahem, moving on! Unfortunately, the Vault Hunters who opened it, didn’t find ANY of the treasure that they had been promised! Major bummer! At least to the untrained eye that is! Little did they know, that when they opened the vault, the priceless mineral Eridian began spreading and sprouting like wildfire across the planet! Attracting companies galaxy wide to come and harvest as much as they can! But none more than the dreaded Hyperion…well…that’s when things started getting bad.

Hyperion’s CEO Handsome Jack, has taken over Pandora, claiming himself as rightful dictator over us, claiming that he wants to rid the galaxy of the Borderlands forever! When all he really wants to do is find the second rumored Vault, kill all the Vault Hunters and cause pain to Claptraps everywhere, ending my entire assembly line as we know it! He hurt so many of us! Most of them came off the same assembly belt as me! Sorry, I went off on a rant there.

This is where you come in Vault Hunters! It’s your job to help me and my bad ass minion defeat Handsome Jack, find The Vault, restore (relative) peace to Pandora and get all the women we want! WOO-HOO! Now I know what you’re thinking, taking on the whole Hyperion Corporation is suicide…and your right! But to help us with this assisted suicide are other Vault Hunter that you bring with you and the many weapons littered through the world of Pandora. Also, former Vault Hunters before you are still on the planet forming a resistance to take down Hyperion and it’s iron grip over us, also trying to stop that bastard Jack from finding the vault key! If things get hairy, don’t worry, Claptrap is here and I can help you through most of your journey…except for the really dangerous parts, then you’re on your own.

Pandora’s changed a lot Vault Hunter and bandits aren’t the only things you need to worry about. Different gangs and all the Hyperion stuff running around and all the mutated freak creatures and not being safe when you just want a maintenance on your oil filter! Sorry…I got carried away with information there…HELP US VAULT HUNTER! WE NEED YOU WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE A PAINFUL DEATH BY HANDSOME JACK! HHHHEEEEELLLLLPPPPPP UUUUUUSSSSSSSS!

TRANSMISSION INTERRUPTED

Sorry about that. Pandora is in dire straits Vault Hunter. We all need your help right now! Please, come to Pandora to help us take down Handsome Jack. Otherwise, Claptrap might go crazy…or worse…make the rest of the planet go crazy. Goodbye Vault Hunter, I await your arrival.

END

…what was that? Uh…graphics controls and all that stuff. Seriously…what…

INTERRUPTED

Borderlands 2 10/10

Our newest information is all about release dates! Its still a while in the future but at least its getting closer! There are so many things that are customizable in this new series I can hardly wait to get my hands on it. Any body else excited?!

11/8/12         Japan
Q1/Q2 2013   Europe
Q1/Q2 2013   North America
(Information provided via Wikipedia)

Remember that Q1-Q2 could be anywhere from January-June 2013. Be sure to get your preorder for this game in soon!

There are more plushes in the store! Added to the group is a PokeBall, Kirby, and Zelda Bomb bag complete with three bombs to throw at your friends. Don’t have too much fun now.

We now have these three awesome plushes for sale at the store! Our very own Assistant Manager is a crafty lady and makes them in her spare time. Each of these are handmade and custom creations.

So if you need a pick-me-up get the Red Mushroom. Need an extra life? 1UP all the way! Or if you just want a good scare I think the Boo would be happy to help.

Scary Boo Plush: $6.99

1UP Mushroom: $4.99

Red Mushroom: $6.99

(If you’d like to ask for a custom request from the Studio be sure to contact Sarah for more information –  Email: meilistudios@hotmail.com – Facebook – Twitter)

9/01/12     Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (360/PS3)
9/11/12     NHL 13 (360/PS3)
9/13/12     Fractured Soul: Deep Void (3DS)
9/18/12     Borderlands 2 (PC/PS3/360)
9/18/12     F1 2012 (360/PS3)
9/16/12     Kirby’s Dream Collection: Special Edition
9/18/12     Kinect Sports: Ultimate Collection
9/25/12     FIFA Soccer 13 (PS3/360/Vita/PSP/Wii)
9/25/12     Dead or Alive 5 (360/PS3)
9/25/12     WOW: Mists of Pandaria (PC/Mac)
9/25/12     LittleBigPlanet (Vita)
9/25/12     Angry Birds Trilogy (360/PS3/3DS)

(Dates are subject to change and are to the best of our ability up to date.)

If you’d like to pre-order a title with us be sure to order it two weeks prior to the relevant release date. Don’t see what you’re looking for? Call the store today and we would be glad to help you.

08/03/12    Total Recall (PC)

08/07/12    Persona 4 Arena (PS3)

08/14/12    Sleeping Dogs (360/PC/PS3)

08/14/12    Darksiders 2 (360)

08/19/12    New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS)

08/21/12    Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 (PC/360)

08/24/12    Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition (PC)

08/28/12    Transformers Fall of Cybertron (360/PS3)

08/28/12    Madden NFL 13 (Wii/PS3/360)

08/28/12    Guild Wars 2 (PC)

08/??/12    Darksiders 2 (PC)

(Dates are subject to change and are to the best of our ability up to date.)

What goodies can you expect? New playable race called the Pandaren who are panda like martial artists and of course their homeland Pandaria will be the newest continent to the bunch. Level cap is also bumped up to 90 with a new monk class.

Sony is announcing they intend to fix the lack of family-friendly titles this holiday season instead of solely focusing on “mega-blockbusters” going for a bigger audience appeal. Two big titles in this lineup include Little Big Planet Karting and the J.K. Rowling-supported “Wonderbook: Book of Spells” project demoed live at the E3 conference. For those of you Harry Potter fans who don’t know about the Book of Spells yet here’s the official trailer. Its using the PlayStation Move system to engage its players in the world Hogwarts spell learning.

Book of Spells is only the first title in the lineup for the Wonderbook, I’m personally very interested to see what other titles will be coming out for it in the future.