As we come to the end of our 31 Website journey we are starting to look at bigger and more powerful publishers, companies that release dozens of games every year. But what about those that barely have one game out? Should they be forgotten in the run up to Christmas day (and the final episode of this show)?? Heck no and that's why we have docked our ship at O~3 Entertainment's website.

If you haven't heard of O~3 don't feel bad, they're the group responsible for bringing Alien Hominid to the PlayStation 2 and GameCube. They also published Torrent, the PC game I know absolutely nothing about. With the critics cooing over Alien Hominid, it would appear as if their new year is about to get a little brighter. Does this excitement show up on their website, or is this going to be another dud? I guess you're going to have to quit playing with fat kid long enough to read this review!

Look and Design: If you were to look at the O~3 page I bet you wouldn't even know it's a game publisher's website. Outside of the funky animated banner at the top (is that Pac Man? Or the guy from Advance Wars? Or Zero from the recent Mega Man games??) there just isn't much to make you think it's a game site. No release schedule, no box art, no big banners asking you to buy their product. The site is extremely low key, so much so you might miss it all together. There are other parts to the O~3 page, but most of the major info is contained on the front page, so there's almost no reason to explore past this area.

Accessibility: Even though O~3 only has two games, they haven't actually added their newest game to their database. So don't go here expecting to find a page for Alien Hominid, there just isn't one . yet. You can look at a mission statement, a paragraph about the company, and apply for a job, but you won't learn much about Alien Hominid on this site. You can search by system, but without that game added there's just no point. I'd like to say that this site is easy to search, but it doesn't even do the most basic tasks, so it's going to be real hard to recommend.

Insider Information: There is no news section, per se . only the front page that does the whole blog thing we've seen once (and only once) before. This page has all their main news, including sales figures, facts about their holiday line-up, and other such useless info. It's easy to read, but only because there is rarely more than four lines to the news. Some of the news hints that there is more, but I couldn't find it. They talk about five games being released this holiday, yet I couldn't find any names outside of the obvious Alien Hominid. Their news is both vague and short, a deathly combination.

Parting Thoughts: Defunct Games has a special kind of reader, the kind of generally doesn't mind 2D graphics and old school fundamentals. And that's why I'm proud to say that Alien Hominid is easily the 2D game of the year, it's simply stunning, just a work of art. It will remind you of every reason you loved games like Contra and Metal Slug, plus it's funny beyond all get out. The thing just stinks of style, with every level adding to the brilliance of the one before it. By the end of the game you'll want to go right through it again, or try your hand at any one of the mini games, one of which is a parody of classic Atari 2600 games. Even better, you can create your own PDA games and play them with up to four people at the same time. This is the old school game of the year, no matter what anybody else tells you!

FINAL GRADE: F
(Important Note: This review was written in 2004. As is the case with websites things tend to change and get moved around. We've decided to cover major companies who should have a presence on the web for many years to come, but the actual reviews of the layout may not be relevant for more than a month to a year. Having said that, we're hoping this article was still interesting, and if not, at least you go this extra little paragraph of explanation that you wouldn't normally get on the other websites.)