Apologies for the tardiness. Disaster struck. All you need to know is that Jack Thompson got spoinked by the judge-o-rama, and Wii Fit's now calling non-fat kids fat. Messed UP! Also, Rage of Bonan is the best name for a porn videogame movie adaptation ever. Maybe. Or something. I don't know. Whatever. Penny Arcade also has the best ad for its game: one that completely trashes it. Also, Itagaki trashes Devil May Cry and -- gasp -- his own protege's work, Ninja Gaiden Sigma. But, I guess we'll find out why he did it in episode 96! (No, not 95. We didn't find out til 96. Nyeah.)

The fate of the Trujillo girl and the dude with fists registered as lethal weapons - TRIED AS ADULTS:
http://kotaku.com/5009663/mortal-kombat-killers

Jack Thompson Guilty on 27 of 31 Misconduct Charges, Says Bar Trial Judge... FL Supreme Court Must Now Rule
http://m1e.net/c?82994029-nr9FsY4EVCZg2%403343143-mngGCMDVv8RtU

Also, why the hate?
http://kotaku.com/5010324/microsoft-explains-gaywood-ban

EW Writer Displays Epic Prince Of Persia Ignorance
http://kotaku.com/5010708/ew-writer-displays-epic-prince-of-persia-ignorance

Says Nintendo: "Your kid isn't actually fat, but oh what the hey -- SHE IS FAT! Take that!"
http://kotaku.com/5010182/the-bbc-tackles-wii-fit-fat-kids

Microsoft Axing Underperforming XBLA Titles
http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/05/underperforming.html

Dragon Quest Trilogy Confirmed for U.S.
http://ds.ign.com/articles/875/875731p1.html

Guitar Hero -- World Tour
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6191524.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=newstop&tag=newstop;more;2
http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/05/activision-unve.html

BioShock surfaces on PS3
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6191460.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=newstop&tag=newstop;title;13

Best... ad... evAr.
http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/05/penny-arcade-ba.html

Rare: Viva Pinata DS/360 Connectivity Functional, Scrapped
http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/05/rare-viva-pinat.html

Itagaki Not Impressed With Devil May Cry
http://kotaku.com/5010815/itagaki-not-impressed-with-devil-may-cry

Itagaki Rags On Ninja Gaiden Sigma
http://kotaku.com/5010331/itagaki-rags-on-ninja-gaiden-sigma

MGS4 Has 90-Minute Cutscenes [UPDATE]
http://kotaku.com/392923/mgs4-has-90+minute-cutscenes-%5Bupdate%5D

*****lore Incites The Rage Of Bonan
http://kotaku.com/5010543/whorelore-incites-the-rage-of-bonan

Game|Life East Closes Its Doors
http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/05/gamelife-east-c.html

Download here.
File size: Kinda Big
Running time: Under two hours

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Well, I'm missing one thing with the podcast that Al's going to help out with. With any luck, I'll have it edited into Episode 95 and uploaded tomorrow (Wednesday) in the morning before I head off to work. In the meantime, you can get Episode 94 from my previous post, AND I finished Myst DS for review and should be turning the review into the site soon. I had hoped to be done with the review tonight but I had work to take home both yesterday and today, which is why I didn't beat it 'til today. I tried to beat it relying on my memory of the game, but alas -- some things were forgotten (damned Channelwood) so of course I spent a little time being stumped. I totally wrecked the train that you had to direct by sound, though. I don't think you really need me to tell you whether or not to buy it, but here's a hint: it's really, really grainy and small......

UPDATE: Disaster strikes again. That thing I was to be helped with didn't pan out and now I have to run to work. It will go up tonight when I have more time.

With any luck, Episode 95 of the Trigames.NET Podcast will be up tonight. Of course, I am going to leave the posting space for Episode 94 to get a little burn, at least for a day. You can find El Delayo -- more properly known as "Episode 94 - Truth is Truth" -- right here. The description post will be up tonight as I finish editing 95. I need to have my brain focused on that task first.

UPDATE: Disaster has found its way into the process yet again. 4 hours of editing yesterday shot to hell. I have started over, but it's time for work. I'll be back this evening to hopefully get Episode 95 up. This sucks big time.

You know the deal:

mailbag AT trigames DOT net or http://trigames.net/email_us.php

If your question isn't asked via either of those means, t'ain't gettin' answAred. Period. We record at 11:30AM EST (hopefully) but I think as long as you get it in before 12:30 it should be fine. We usually check the bag right before we actually hit the segment.

With the long weekend, one would suspect that the podcast editing would go uninhibted.

Wrong.

Memorial Day weekend = much time out of the house, which means less time to edit podcasts. I also had to fly into work Monday night for a Tuesday morning meeting, completely screwing over my plans to edit some on Monday.

I'll work feverishly to get Episode 94 of this thing up before it's too too late.

I've finally finished the original Phoenix Wright trilogy -- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All, and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations. It was quite an enjoyable ride while it lasted, and I really dig the streamlined adventure game tenets that challenge your ability to deduce. Some of the leaps in logic the games make are a little unnerving, of course, but none are as egregious as that infamous one in Gabriel Knight 3 where you had to... [spoiler] get cat hair and scotch tape to make a moustache to match yourself up to a fake ID -- only to find out that you have to then get a marker to draw the moustache onto the fake ID. (What?!) [/spoiler]

Trials and Tribulations, in my opinion, is the best of the three -- but is only so if you've played through the original game, as what's good about it is how it ties everything about the original storyline up in a neat little bow.

My feelings after finishing the trilogy are much like those of my cohort Alfred. It's a little sad that I won't be interacting with these characters any longer. However, what I'll miss more than the characters is the that satisfaction I got achieving my goals in the game -- that is, deducing which evidence to present in order to point out contradictions, et cetera. Hotel Dusk's level of satisfaction -- the "a ha" factor -- was nowhere near as potent. That's why I'm going to run out and pick up Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney after my next review (which should hopefully be coming before the next two weeks are up).

Favorite character outside of Phoenix himself: Godot. Dude rules. Least favorite character: Wendy Oldbag. UGH.

Side note: I would love to see Nintendo or someone else experiment with digitally distributing one-off Ace Attorney episodes.

So that's two down (I finished the original Phoenix Wright years ago, with the trailing two not being opened until February of this year).

Now I'm working on Castlevania: Portal of Ruin which I've had sitting and collecting dust ever since I bought and unboxed it. I really do like how Konami spiced up the "hey let's do Metroid" motif by adding the paintings. Just going through a big castle -- AGAIN -- would be blase, but it's great that you get to jump into alternate areas which act like spoke worlds to the main castle's hub. The whole "explore until you can go no further and then find items to overcome your obstacles" idea that's been getting old really benefits from the variety here, but it manages to avoid the forced and restrictive atmosphere of Metroid: Fusion (a game which I liked a lot but was also disappointed by). The game seems a bit more difficult too, with enemies causing you more damage and acting a little more aggressive. They're still as dumb as nails, though.

One pleasant side effect of the hub-and-spoke method of varying worlds is that, like a typical Nintendo-esque adventure (Super Mario Galaxy), it gives Konami an excuse to go out and throw in what would be otherwise inappropriate environments (who finds a frickin' desert inside a castle, anyway?. This also gives the music composer some more leeway with what kind of themes she throws into the areas, and the result is really pleasing to the ears.

The game sports two-character play, letting you alternate between John and Charlotte at will, but I have to agree with the criticism that Charlotte isn't entirely useful -- at least not as much as you'd want her to be. I've forced myself to run through areas as her, and while she's capable, there's almost no reason to use her in single-protagonist combat.

In the meantime, I'm still working on Ninja Gaiden Black and Half Life 2. Hopefully, this weekend will prove productive.

I am so godforsakenly tired and I still have work to do tonight so I'm just going to leave you with the goods. Enjoy good lovin'.

I bring this up for one reason and one reason alone: Why is the kid on the left touching the stylus to the top screen? Check out the image in the link below.
Lego Star Wars Creator: 'Children Are Badly Served By Games'
http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/05/lego-star-wars.html

States want game bucks.
Georgia Pretties Itself Up For Game Developers
http://kotaku.com/391198/georgia-pretties-itself-up-for-game-developers

Cities want game bucks.
NYC Eyeballs Growing Games Industry
http://kotaku.com/391358/nyc-eyeballs-growing-games-industry

And why do they want game bucks?
April NPD: Despite GTA, Wii Outsells PS3, 360 Combined
http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/05/april-npd-despi.html

My birth month. Good gift. Hint hint.
Too Human Arrives In August, Officially
http://kotaku.com/5008861/too-human-arrives-in-august-officially

Whoa...
"theGAYERGamer" Gets Xbox Live Ban, Microsoft Explains
http://kotaku.com/390593/thegayergamer-gets-xbox-live-ban-microsoft-explains

So will this give me access -- as a freelancer -- to all future NCAA Final Four basketball videogames, and the How I Met Your Mother videogame?
Breaking: CBS Snags GameSpot In $1.8 Billion CNET Acquisition
http://kotaku.com/390775/breaking-cbs-snags-gamespot-in-18-billion-cnet-acquisition

Yay! More hardware! Do not want.
Guitar Hero 4 Drums Revealed
http://kotaku.com/390363/guitar-hero-4-drums-revealed

Yay! EVEN MORE hardware! REALLY do not want.
Konami Announces "Rock Revolution"
http://kotaku.com/390879/konami-announces-rock-revolution

LOVE.
Beyond Good & Evil 2 Is For PS3, 360
http://kotaku.com/391065/beyond-good--evil-2-is-for-ps3-360

LO...
Postal Opening On Four Screens (Yes, FOUR)
http://kotaku.com/391105/postal-opening-on-four-screens-yes-four

...L!!!
Uwe Boll: 'The Right Guy' To Direct Grand Theft Auto Film
http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/05/uwe-boll-the-ri.html

You're fat. Your finger's fat. Even your whisker is fat. /garfield
Obesity Experts 'Aghast' By Wii Fit
http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/05/obesity-experts.html

Crunch time = slave driven labor in Game Studios. Still true?
Examining Quality Of Life In The Games Biz
http://kotaku.com/391272/examining-quality-of-life-in-the-games-biz

Download here.

File Size: 55.7

Running Time: 1:56:07

Email the mailbag -- mailbag [at] trigames [dot] net -- if you want some good mailbag answer question actioning yadda yadda. POOF!

Mass Effect validate please apparently wants validate please you to please validate validate please it every 10 days validate please if you buy the PC version. Or does it? The real skinny inside. Plus, M-rated games being sold to miners and minors; M-rated games potentially causing stores a $5000 government fine if they're sold to said miners and minors; M-rated games turned into T-rated games by erasing dead fish; Alfred gets a new PC and it rawks; Slunks' siege against his friend, made possible by backstabbing him and teaming up with the Khan, fails (karma, traitor!); and MHORE!

GTA IV = big largesse happiness for Microsoft
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3167723

Sell an M-rated game to a toddler, pay $5000!
http://kotaku.com/5008212/house-introduces-video-games-ratings-enforcement-act-virtual-rape-fans-worried

Study shows not enough game stores are employing the Slunkses of the world as M-rated games fall into the hands of minors
http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/05/study-only-20-p.html

The URL speaks for itself.
http://kotaku.com/5008179/kaz-hirai-ps3-will-win-the-race-it-just-might-take-a-decade

It's the return of Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! ... or not.
http://kotaku.com/388122/mike-tyson-returns-in-fight-night-round-4

Mass Effect Copy Protection is insane:
http://kotaku.com/387846/mass-effect-copy-protection-an-opportunity-to-use-the-adjective-draconian

Update on the insane Mass Effect news!
http://kotaku.com/5008452/bioware-backs-down-from-draconian-mass-effect-authentication

And Spore will do it too!
http://kotaku.com/5008454/spore-to-use-online-authentication

Activision is 2 weeks away from revealing a "significant innovation" for the Guitar Hero franchise...
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6190648.html?action=convert&om_clk=latestnews&tag=latestnews;title;0

THQ says: Hey, our products suck. So, let's blame it on someone else's success!
http://kotaku.com/388798/lets-blame-nintendo

Microsoft to Sorny: Let's talk some SMACK.
http://kotaku.com/388781/aaron-greenberg-goes-berserk-bites-sony-in-the-face

Have Sushi, will M-rate
http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/05/uncharted-ditch.html

Interludes courtesy of:

Final Fantasy X - Besaid Island (PS2)
Mass Effect - Hot and Steamy Scene and Online Validations (X360)
Windows Vista Ad Music (PC)

Download here.
File Size: 45.7 MB
Running Time: 1:35:18

Want to be heard? Hit the mailbag - mailbag AT trigames DOT net.
Want previous episodes? Hit the Podcast Homepage.
You can review us on iTunes, while you're at it.
Add us to your RSS reader or iTunes feed! http://trigames.net/rss.xml