If you haven't already heard, Super Smash Bros Brawl has FINALLY been given a release date over here in good ol' Europe. The release date's been confirmed as June 27th 2008.

Now, whilst it is in someways good news, it seems that Nintendo has actually shot themselves in the foot, but in fact the bullet has ricocheted and landed squarely between the eyes of all European gamers who don't import their games.

The reason is this;

To put a long story short, Nintendo have a habit of blatantly ignoring the fact that Europe exists, and also that there are in fact Nintendo fans concealed within the seemingly missable continent, and usually end up releasing the most anticipated titles a ridiculous amount of time AFTER the game's been released everywhere else.

Now, fans who simply cannot wait for the game to be released in their own country (like me) imported Smash Bros, and have been enjoying it for quite some time now. And this is where the problem lurks.

So many copies of the game have been imported over to European shores that some people believe that Smash Bros' sales over here will take a heavy hit. Hopefully this won't be the case, because if the sales of Smash Bros' over here are not what Nintendo expected, Nintendo will fall under the impression that there's not a lot of Smash Bros fans in Europe, and could potentially either make Europe even less of a priority, or even not release future entries of the series here at all.

It's highly doubtful, but there's always the possibility.

Going back to the subject of Nintendo's seemingly eternal patience with regards to European release dates, the problem of Smash Bros could reflect onto other games as well.

Nintendo could release a game over in Japan and America without so much as hinting at a European release date (again), thus causing fans to import the game, THUS causing Nintendo to believe that the game simply isn't selling over here and (final) thus they decide to widen the release date gap between their future titles or not releasing them at all!

It's not just a problem, it has the potential to become a major problem. And what Nintendo don't realise is that by ignoring European gamers, they're becoming the thorn in their own foot. Many people have also expressed the fact that they've now lost any interest they might have had in Super Smash Bros simply because of the fact that they're fed up waiting for the damn thing to arrive. That, coupled with the fact that other titles released that month are more than likely going to be pulling their attention away from the heavily delayed fighter (*cough* METAL GEAR SOLID 4*cough*).

I'm glad that Smash Bros has finally been given a release date, it's about time that European gamers who chose NOT to import the game are given the chance to own such a wonderful title. But I think Nintendo's left it too long now. The excitement and hype over the internet has worn off, and people are already starting to come down from the high that is Super Smash Bros Brawl.

Games have come along way. From the simple, white blocks of Pong's paddles we have now to come to a point where games are so technologically advanced that they more or less look photo-realistic, ala Crysis. But, have we lost our grasp on games that can be truly classed as classics?

In the past, titles such as Super Mario World, Space Invaders, Sonic the Hedgehog; these were truly classic games. But at the moment, they are unappreciated by the majority of today's "generation".

We live today, in the GTA generation, where a game can only really be good if it has some sort of weaponry in it, along with lots of blood and violence. You only have to look at Gamespot's top-ten viewed at the bottom of it's home page, San Andreas is there all the time.

So am I writing this blog? Is it because I'm an old-school gamer who would prefer to play Sonic 3 over Half-Life 2? Well, yes and no. I'd love to play Sonic 3 over Half-Life 2, but at the same time I appreciate both games for their greatness. No, the reason I'm writing this blog is because today the gaming demographic has seemed to lost sight of what truly makes a great game.

As every true gamer/geek/nerd should know by now, Super Mario Galaxy is being released on Friday over here in the UK. Also, as every gamer/geek/nerd should be, I'm seriously excited about getting my grubby hands on it. Now, it's not every day a true Mario game comes out. In fact it's been close to 5 years since Mario Sunshine was released, so it's a pretty big deal. Yes, I know that there've been other Mario games such as New Super Mario Bros, and Mario Kart DS and whatnot, but what gamers have been really looking for is a proper sequel to Mario 64, undoubtedly one of, if not THE best, game of all time. And even though Mario Galaxy is nearly upon us, it seems as though the majority of retailers couldn't give a rat's ass.

I rang up Gamestation on Lord St. in Liverpool earlier to find out whether they were having a midnight launch or not. I expected them to; I mean, seriously, a spiritual sequel to Mario 64? Yes please! But, no, it turns out they're not. A little put-back and a little confused I rang the other Gamestation in St Johns shopping centre. But they're not either. This is where I really got pissed off. Both of these stores did a midnight launch for Halo 3, which was a good game yes, but honestly, there've been 3 Halo games in the same amount of time as there has been 1 Mario game. Mario Galaxy surely is a bigger deal then Halo 3?

But apparently not. No, it seems as though the majority of retailers will only do special midnight launches for games if they appeal to the GTA generation, not whether they can be considered true classics or not. And yes, some Fanboys will argue all night long that Halo 3 can be considered a classic, but I just fail to see how Mario Galaxy can be any less of a deal then another FPS.

Now don't get me wrong, I went to the midnight launch for Halo 3, and I love the game, but it angers me at how much people are losing sight of great games. DK Jungle Beat, Kirby Power Paintbrush, both great games yet under-appreciated because they don't involve guns or overt violence, or were too hard for the little kiddies to play.

Games can be considered an art-form. There have beena million FPS' released this year, and another infinity of them to come. Mario Galaxy is the sort of game that comes round only once in a blue moon. And you can be damn sure it'll probably be another 5 years, if not more, until another 3D Mario game is released. Now if only retailers took it's release more seriously. I give props to the few GAME stores around the country who are doing something special to celebrate Galaxy's launch. The rest need to get a grip.

We all know who Uwe Boll is.  He's a German director, famous for all the wrong reasons.  He is without a doubt one of the worst directors of all time, and what's worse, he keeps getting work.  Some of his (if they can even be called) "films", are based from famous video game titles, such as Dungeon Siege, House of the Dead and Alone in the Dark.  He also has several other video game to movie titles in the works, namely FarCry and Postal.

Let's have a look at Uwe Boll's imdb page.  He hasn't actually done that many movies.  Some of the movies sound pretty good, such as Angels Don't Sleep Here or Blackwoods.  However, if you start to look at each movie, a trend is apparent; not one of his films have scored above a 5.

So why do video game developers such as Sega (House of the Dead) give Uwe Boll the rights to make movies based on their games, when Uwe Boll is renowned as such a terrible director?  From what I can see, there are two definitive answers to this.  The first could simply be that they have not heard of Uwe Boll before, or seen any of the atrocities that he has created.  The most probable reason is this, however; it's a rare occasion when a director or other important film-related person approaches a game company asking for the rights to create a movie based off one of their titles.  Therefore, the game company usually accepts the offer.  Why?  For the money.  It's as simple as.  Like any good business, if there's a chance to make a couple more pounds/dollars, whatever, then the opportunity is going to be snatched up right away.

But anyway, enough about the actual films, back onto Uwe Boll. 

From I have heard, he isn't a man with high regards toward other people.  He has been known to challenge some of his critics to a 10-round boxing match each(all which will aparentally be shown in Postal), and has also done spoofs of 9/11.  This is without a doubt one of the worst things he's ever done. 

In a clip of Postal, a window cleaner can be seen doing what he does best; cleaning windows.  In the background we can clearly see one of the Twin Towers.  The window cleaner then turns round to see a plane crashing into him and the building which he is hanging from.  This is not only an insult to the people who died in that accident, but also to the family of the people who died, and, going deeper than that, the soldiers who have died going into Afghanistan BECAUSE of that day, and so on and so forth.  It's immoral, unethical and above all just plain tw*tty.  And it's for this reason why I believe Uwe Boll should not be allowed to be involved in the creation in anymore movies.

He is obviously far too irresponsible, as can be shown by his ignorance when it comes to material that WILL offend people (See above), and is also too childlike to accept the fact that he is indeed a terrble director, as can be shown by his boxing challenges to his critics.

So my message to Uwe Boll: I am a critic of you.  I think you're a washed up director who also has no talent and no creativity.  Whatever caused the idea for you to become a director needs to be forgotten.  Also, I know for fact you're gonna rape FarCry.  And for that reason, I hate, nay, DESPISE you even further.  I won't die happy until you officially stop creating movies.  Really, just stop.  Do mankind a favor. 

To check out the extent of Uwe Boll's stupidity, click here, and read some of his highly intelligent remarks.

Sorry for the rant at the end.  I am aware that he probably won't read this, but hey, you never know.  You may see me having a boxing match with him in his future film, Paperboy: The Sidewalk of Doom.

After much deliberating and after seeing most of the gameplay movies, I've decided that I want FFXII.  I wasn't sure whether the whole change of battle system, and that silly chest-board thingy would work, but it does seem to have worked.  If this game really deserves 40/40 in Famitsu then obviously it's gotta be a great game.  Alls that I can do now is wait for it to come out :D

'Tis Jarv.  Didn't know what to put so just say what you want. :D