I had forgotten that this blog that I had kept as a teenager even existed. I'm now thirty years old. Looking back at my old posts, I am struck with the knowledge that it would be best not to publish anything at all. However, I feel oddly compelled to add another entry to this old journal even though I know no one else will ever read it. I will keep this post brief.

It's funny to read what I thought was important when I was young. The world is currently in the grip of a global pandemic that is straining many of the systems we've come to rely on as a population and deepening the material inequalities that are inherent to our socio-economic structure. Very little seems important anymore.

Spend as much quality time with loved ones as possible.

Maybe I'll remember this blog again in another ten years and will have something better to say.

So E3 has come and gone, leaving a void in my life where nothing but pure, rich gaming news and discussion used to be for those few days. I truly felt at one with the gaming community this week as I decided, this year, to participate to the fullest of my ability. I watched every one of Gamespot's shows live and frequented the chat rooms provided. I'd like to give a shout-out to all the people I met in our tiny, "intimate" chat room. Now onto the good stuff. So much went down this year; this blog may run a little long.

Press Conferences

The press conferences were a bit disappointing to be honest, but if I were to pick a winner it would be Sony. This may be a bit of fanboy bias, as many are of the the opinion that Nintendo took the prize this year. Both gave good conferences. but Nintendo's seemed... off to me. They showed all these seemingly great titles: DKC Returns, LoZ Skyward Sword, Golden frikkin Sun 3, Metroid: Other M (MOM?), and Epic Mickey. But all in all, no surprises. Anything newly announced was simply a revival of an old franchise as though Nintendo is devoid of creativity. They pull out a Zelda title for E3 every single year. Why is this one special? Because it requires me to go out and buy a $20 add-on in order to swing my arm about for 30 minutes until I get tired and quit playing? Excuse me if I'm not holding my breath.

Nintendo is a Jerk

Then I realised why Nintendo is pulling all these old IPs out from the cellar. It's because they have already sold Wiis to everyone and their grandmother, literally. They've done their pandering to the casual market, and they've made their yacht full of Benjamins doing it. Now they're turning back to us, the disenfranchised, disillusioned hardcore population. Their weapon of choice for dealing with us: a grenade launcher with rounds that release rose-tinted clouds of nostalgia. And it's working. We forgot the "not our target demographic" slap in the face and are crawling back into the arms of our once beloved Nintendo, and all they had to do was dust off an old photo album. Come ON. It'll take a bit more for me to forgive them for what they did: revolutionized and popularized casual gaming and created a possibly incurable, definitely malignant cancer which is now spreading and rearing it's ugly, tumorous head in the form of Kinect and Move.

Slightly Misplaced Casual Gaming Rant (but only slightly)

Perhaps that was a bit strong, but you all saw the Microsoft, Konami, and Ubisoft press conferences. Fitness, dancing, posing, fitness again, breathing, video chat, more fitness, and Skittles. What did we do to deserve Skittles? I rest my case. I would have no problem with casual gaming if only it didn't get in the way so much. Casual gaming creates shelves upon shelves of shovelware in my local game store. Development for Wii Sports halts development for Donkey Kong. Casual gaming put modern games into a perpetual 'easy mode' making us relish titles such as Demon's Souls or MH3 which aren't even that hard. Casual gaming needs to be put somewhere else to operate seperately from us serious folk. Games is serious business. Seriously.

Sony's Press Conference

Back to business. So, what made Sony so special? Well, for one, nothing made me want to bow my head in shame. That's a start. Kevin Butler and Gabe Newell made for excellent surprise guests. KZ3, LBP2, and FFXIV all looked delicious. Even Sorcery had me intrigued until I realized I had to pay approximately $120 just to be able to play it. I have to say, of all the generally silly and useless motion control bandwagoning going in the industry, Move is the most impressive, albeit most expensive, of the three. PSN+ looks generally unappealing, but I'll reserve judgement untill the 3-month free trial. It's just that the $50/year I'd be paying would likely serve me better if I just put it towards a game. And then out of nowhere came Twisted Metal? Talk about a great show.

3DS Looks Great

It wasn't until well after the Nintendo Press Conference that the natural beauty of Nintendo's consistently stellar handheld department would show itself. The reason I was unimpressed by it at the conference was that the only things they said about it were that it was glassesless 3D and it had Kid Icarus. I think 3D is a ridiculous gimmick (which is why it remained unmentioned in my description of Sony's conference) and Kid Icarus was way before my time. I only know Pit as the annoying "HIYAYAYA!" guy in Brawl. But, 3D nausea and headaches aside, the 3DS is actually quite a piece of hardware. The additional analog stick, the tilt sensor, the larger top screen, and the processng power make this the definitive handheld of the generation and may just cause Sony to lie the hell down. But the real seller is the recently announced ability to somehow install game software to the hard drive, finally eliminating the need to carry around cartridges. I didn't even mention the already extensive and impressive library. If this has the solid battery life that Nintendo handhelds are known for and a reasonable sticker price, this will be a godsend to the industry and a definite must buy. I want a red one.

Learn Guitar by Beating the Boss

Rhythm games are taking a turn for the better in the form of real instruments. Way to step it up, Power Gig and Rock Band 3.

Well at this point I have written a book and no one will read it so I wont bother listing all the games I'm excited for. You all can tell which are the good ones. I'm done here.

EDIT: So it seems two weeks ago today was my 5 year anniversary with Gamespot. When I look back at my old blog posts and my moderation history, I can only think, "Man, I used to be really stupid." I hoped these 5 years have seen me change as a GS community member. Here's to 5 more years.

Over a year. I'm looking at my last post, and I can't believe I was excited about the Wii. That thing's a piece of crap; I barely touch it. My PS3, on the other hand, is fantastic. I pre-ordered Infamous yesterday, and I'm going to go pick it up tomorrow. The demo was massive fun. I'm going to go play it again right now.

... is broken. My Wii doesn't read discs, and it is on its way to East Syracuse, NY to be repaired. Looks like now I'll have plenty of time to play HAZE and learn all the new CoD4 maps over the next 2 weeks. But I've still died a little inside.

What little I was allowed to play of Okami was amazing. It is a truly beautiful game that moves at a much faster pace than Zelda. My only problem with it is that I get babied through all the puzzles even after I've figured out what to do. Difficulty-wise Zelda wins.

May 20th, two games drop that I am quite psyched for. HAZE and Summon Nights: Twin Age, but of course as I type this, I discover that Summon Nights is delayed to June 3rd. The latter half of my month is ruined. But I still have HAZE to look forward to. The demo just came out and is amazing. The graphics are a bit shaky but, it is an old demo. The final product will be better. This is one of those hyper-hyped, posterchild games, so I really hope it gets good reviews (unlike posterchildren Lair and Red Steel). I'll be buying it regardless, of course.

Also, GTAIV. I think it sucks. It lacks fun. Rockstar threw in violence, driving, hookers, missions, and helicopters but forgot to add fun. They should work on that for next time.

Wii - 3744 9542 3383 9430

Brawl - 0259 0514 3820

Trade with me! Do it!

I'll get myself a Mario Kart code soon I guess.

After 1 and a half years of searching and waiting, I finally have it. Today I skipped school with a bunch of my friends and we went to Besy Buy to get my friend a hard drive, and since it was early, we figured we might as well see if we had a shot at getting me a Wii. We went in and there weren't many people in the store. We went to the game section and there it was. The display box! I shouted with glee and the one of my friends behind me said, "Hey look at this!" I turned around and what he was pointing to was a sign that said, "YES, WE HAVE WIIS!" I ran around the store trying to find to find someone to help me. The most beautiful woman in the world then gave me that fabulous piece of paper that entitled me to a Wii. She might not have actually been the most beautiful woman in the world but she gave me my Wii. Then I went to the cash register and an equally fantastic and beautiful woman took my paper and went into a room and gave me my precious white box.

Lucario.

Brawl's Best. Nuff said.

I went to a midnight release/tournament at a Gamestop. I didn't play in the tournament but I waited in line with my friend and some guy with a lot of weird make-up on. I still don't have a Wii so it's sitting there next to Twilight Princess, both still in their shrinkwrap. Oh well, at least I can still say, "I have Super Smash Brothers: Brawl!"

I'm sure you've all seen the poll. Here are my thoughts:

I really hate how this is all turning out: Microsoft rushes their product to get ahead in the console wars and succeeds, leaving people blind to the fact that their hardware is poorly constructed, their customer service is terrible, and (the big one for me) they are making you pay for something you should have for free, full online access.

So now all the customers already have their 360s and are "comfortable" and are unwilling to pay the price for the superior hardware of the PS3 even after the $100 price drop (guess what, there isn't going to be another one!!!). The developers are used to making games for the 360 and are "comfortable" so they are too lazy to use the full power and capacity that Blu-ray and the PS3 offer. Microsoft is using all their extra cha-ching from being a year ahead to buy off developers so the PS3 isn't getting the exclusive it deserves. This not only means that Sony isn't attracting any new customers, but it also means that what should have been a beautifully done masterpiece of a game fitted to the maximum capabilities of the PS3 is a POS dumbed down to fit the 360. That explains the framerate issues that plague us PS3 owners and end up making the PS3 look even worse.

All we can hope for is that Haze and MGS4 are the best damned games of 2008.

I said all that to say no, the PS3 is not quite out yet, but it will survive in the jungle. What wont kill it will only make it stronger.

Merry Christmas, fools! I got a bonsai tree under the Christmas tree. My friend is getting me FFXII Revenant Wings. I got her a DS and Animal Crossing. She got a PS3. I'm more excited for her than I was when I got mine.

Call of Duty 4 smears poop on Halo!