Tag: Dragon Quest VIII »

One of the Playstation 2's biggest Japanese RPGs, Dragon Quest VIII, has just been made available on the US App Store.

Everything from the PS2 version is here, reworked for iOS. So it's essentially the same game you've probably played (or at least heard of) way back when, only it's all been shrunk down to fit on your iPhone and iPad. And the controls have been reworked for touch screens, naturally.

You can download Dragon Quest VIII right now for $19.99, and the game features absolutely no in-app purchases of any kind - you get the whole thing right from the start.

When I was growing up, my friends' parents never really got gaming. Some might have appreciated that their kids loved playing games, and would still buy them the relevant equipment, but they never really understood why it excited us so much. I happened to be part of a, then, very select group. I had parents who figured it out perfectly. My Dad was never any good at playing any games but he enjoyed talking about them because he was forever fascinated by the progression of technology. It was my Mum, however, that turned into a major rival. In the good sense, of course.

As a kid, we would have battles to beat each other's Tetris scores. We'd compete at games of Columns too, meeting up to work together to progress through Bubble Bobble (we never did beat it).

One of the most important things I believe I've ever been given is a set of parents that were constantly supportive and encouraging of what I set out to achieve. That's continued right up until today.

With my father sadly no longer with us, my relationship with my mother is even stronger than it was before. Having pursued a potentially risky path of freelance writing, she's always been there fully supportive. Whether it be by accepting that money is a little tight this month, or by making sure I've got a sandwich by my side while I struggle to meet a tight deadline. Of course, I do the same for her, but Sunday isn't about me, it's about her!

Crucially, she's quite the solo gamer and tech enthusiast now. In recent years, she spent a few hundred hours playing through Dragon Quest VIII on the Playstation 2. Something that I'm rather proud of telling other gamers. More relevantly for readers of 148apps, perhaps, she's unlocked and at least two-starred every single level of Angry Birds imaginable, and I don't mean just standard Angry Birds. I'm talking standard, Space, Star Wars, Seasons and Rio. She's a machine when it comes to flicking birds towards pigs.

We've got the one iPad between us which luckily isn't too much of an issue, although it never stops either of us flocking to the Apple Store together to gaze at the new specimens. Sure, we both know that the iPad 2 is a very fine device in its own right but that doesn't stop either of us eyeing up the size of the iPad Mini or pondering just how much faster the iPad 4 might seem. She's got her own iPhone now too, having been given my "old" iPhone 4. It's the perfect tool for her to play SpellTower while on the move, her language skills being far superior to mine.

She hasn't quite delved into the apps world as much yet. She reckons it's because she's too busy. I reckon it's because there's always "just one more" level of Angry Birds to conquer.

I'm an extremely lucky person to have not only such a supportive mother, but one that is just as excited as me about new technology, gadgets and the wonders of the App Store.

Happy Mother's Day, Mum. :) [And from all of us at 148Apps, too, Jen's mum! --Ed.]