Games I'm interested in: (bold = certain buy unless something goes horribly wrong)

Wii
Jan. 21: Endless Ocean from Nintendo
January: No More Heroes from Ubisoft
Feb. 26: Baroque from Atlus USA
March 9: Super Smash Bros. Brawl from Nintendo
March 25: Okami from Capcom
March 25: Opoona from Koei
June: Rygar: The Battle of Argus from Tecmo, Inc.
June: DeBlob from THQ
Spring: Mario Kart Wii with Wii Wheel from Nintendo
Q2: Wii Fit from Nintendo

Nintendo DS
Jan. 21: Advance Wars: Days of Ruin from Nintendo/Intelligent Systems

Feb. 10: Professor Layton and the Curious Village from Nintendo/LEVEL-5
Feb. 12: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney from Capcom

February: Anno 1701: Dawn of Discovery from Ubisoft
March 8: River King: Mystic Valley from Natsume Inc.
March 11: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Rings of Fate from Square Enix
March 25: Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword from Tecmo, Inc.
March: Drone Tactics from Atlus USA
June 8: Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness from Natsume Inc.
Spring: The World Ends with You from Square Enix
Q2: Bangai-O Spirits from D3 Publisher of America

A few points I'd like to make on the ever popular internet hobby of complaining about reviews given to our favorite games. Yes, just like everyone else I get those gut emotional reactions when my favorite games gets a bit of a beating on the review scale, but taking the time to settle down and think about it..a lot of it is pretty ridiculous.

First, I think when a lot of people call out a review that's too low, they do it for the wrong reasons. Maybe I frequent the System Wars crowd too much, but I find many people complain simply because its weakens their system wars-like arguments, when in fact their minds are made up about the game regardless of the review, or eventhe personmay not have an interest in buying the game anyhow. I find the only legitimate reason for complaining about a review (and I mean complaining, discussion is another thing) is when it sways you in the wrong way for purchasing a game. Reviews are meant to help you decide on purchasing. If they do a bad job at that then your trust in whatever source you look to is questioned, and worse case seneario you either waste some money or miss out on a game you'd really like if you tried it. I'd like to cite the Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn review, that in my mind is a legitimately poor review. Why? It did all but come straight out and tell me not to buy the game. In the end I did using better judgement, and guess what? I'm loving it.

I find that when games score somewhere in the region of 7.0-8.5 (or 7.0-8.9,depending on the review scheme)region that there is a large amount of unnecessary complaining and whining. For example, Twilight Princess scores an 8.9; I'd personally give it somewhere inbetween 9.5 and 10, but an 8.8 is okay by me because that review still said it's a great game that I should buy it. Even on the lower end of the barrier, say a 7.5. I'll use the ever popular Rachet and Clank example. Well, perhaps 7.5 is too low; but it shouldn't have been nearly as a big deal as it was simply because the game was still recommended in the end despite some complaints. Really the only people who would be upset about that score would logically be Rachet and Clank fans; but guess what? That region of score means fans of the particular series/genre will enjoy the game. So where's the problem? What I'm really trying to conclude here is that reviews are meant to give you an idea ofif you will enjoy the game or not and what to expect from it, from there you can make your own opinion of the game, and your own opinion of the game can happily co-exist with that of the reviewer despite possible differences.

Finally, I think a lot of people lookat the structure of game reviewsin the wrong way. What I mean by this is say, when a game scores an 8.8; Twilight Princess again. Well people will write all about how the reviewer only cited complaints A, B and C, and then go on to ask why the game was deducted 12% for just those reasons "Twilight Princess scored an 8.8 just because it was too similar to older Zeldas? BS!" No; Zelda scored an 8.8 because of fantastic art direction, a long and deep quest and superb level design. People tend to assume games apparently start off as aperfect 10 and are then deducted points accordingly. If you ask me, games should start at the low or mediumpoint and should then be proved to be deserving of a higher score from there. Even when a game scores a 7.0 (apparently considered trash in System Wars), it better have some really good qualities to be considered "70% awesome". Reviews on the higher half of the review scale need to prove the game is worthy of the score it receives, and not just make citations of its flaws.

Annnddd that's all she wrote.

Last night as I was falling asleep (that is when I do my best thinking), I thought up a CRAZzZzZzy idea for a game. And here it is:

So you start off as..some guy.And your playingfield is your house and the quiet little town you live in. ANYWAYS, it's not important. The point is you eventually find a baby alien (you could choose between different types, such as one that's kind oftentacleish and jellyfish-like, one that's more of an insectoid, one that's a reptilian, etc.). So you have this baby alien and it takes a shine to you and you take a shine to it and you now need to care for this alien by doing your regular animal caring for chores. And provide it with food. As time goes on your alien will grow and evolve (gowing from a little embryo blob into a giant monster). As it grows it will need bigger sources of food. And you need to keep this alien secret from townsfolk, who would notify THE GOVERNMENT.

Anyways so the main point of the game would be that you need to care for, feed, and keep secret your alien.

Eventually you'll need to bring it out at night to cow fields or the zoo to keep your carnivorous pet happy. Of course! You can't be caught! And what if someone catches you? Well.. you'll need to get rid of them. Good thing your pet has a big appetite! So cows and zoo animals are mysteriously disapearing, and so are farmers and zoo keepers. Cops do some investigations, they need to dissapear too. Nosey kids and neighbours get suspicious and snoop around your place; they need to dissapear as well! What's that? There's no cows left? Better invite some townsfolk over for dinner... BUT WHOSE!

So really what I'm getting at here is you need to feed people to your alien that are getting in your way, or just anyone if your alien is hungry enough. You'd do this by social interaction, tricking them to come over to your house, or kidnapping them. If not, either your alien won't have food, (Game over!), The Cops will send you to jail (Game over!), or the Government will come and take away your alien for experiments (Game over!)

The game could have a bit of a Tim Burton - Nightmare Before Christmas art style which would allow for some cool looking aliens and locales and would also allow the player to stomach feeding your neighbours to your pet a bit easier.

So really, this a game could be Nintendogs mixed with Harvest Moon mixed with...some kind of morbid murdering your neighbours and friends game.

What do you think?

T'was a pretty sweet christmas this year. On the gaming (the important!) side of things, I snagged Super Maro Galaxy, Zelda Phantom Hourglass and Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations. Sweet haul considering I got the best games of the year for both my main systems. And conviniently I just finished the first Phoenix Wright last night so I'm all set for the sequel.

So far I've played Super Mario Galaxy...and within about 30 minutes of playing it, I was sure this was going to be one of my all time classics. Every second of that game is just pure entertainment, nothing less and nothing more. I'm only 3 hours in and I'm pacing myself a lot because I'm already thinking ahead to when I'm going to be finished with the game so I'm already trying to slow myself down to delay the still far off ending.

I haven't played Zelda or Pheonix Wright yet due to my large DS backlog, I'm going to power through a few lesser games first then get to the goods.

On non video game related things, I also got the Autobiography on Slash (you know, the guy from Guitar Hero 3!). While the writing is barely profesional, it's a very, very interesting read and I have a lot of trouble putting it down once I get into it. But that's probably because I'm a huge Guns fan.

And now I'm off to the cityuntil the new year to spend time with my girlfriend. I'll probably bring my laptop and DS... and book.Good times ahead.

I've barely played any games in the last few days AND yesterday while shopping for my girlfriend, all I managed to do was come home with Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn and Pokemon Pearl for myself. I also bought condoms which made me feel a bit better about purchasing video games, and pokemon especially.

On the bright side of things, while I busy buying myself stuff, an older woman was looking to buy a Wii game for her son for Christmas. She didn't know much about it or which games were good so I helped her out. In the end I talked her out of getting Happy Feet and instead had her buy Super Mario Galaxy. Someones Christmas is going to be happier because of me! Yay.

The woman also made fun of me for buying Pokemon and spending so much money on video games.

Figured I might as well Keep track of it here:

Games I've started and need to finish:

• Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA)
• Final Fantasy V (GBA)
• Mario & Luigi (GBA)
• Golden Sun: The Lost Age (GBA)
• Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (DS)
• Advance Wars Dual Strike (DS)
• Rune Factory (DS)
• Pikmin 2 (GC)
• Resident Evil 4 (Wii)
• Zack & Wiki (Wii)
• Donkey Kong Country (VC)

Games I haven't even started yet:

• Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (GBA)
• Final Fantasy VI (GBA)
• Metroid Zero Mission (GBA)
• Magical Starsign (DS)
• Etrian Odyssey (DS)
• Castlevania: of Sorrow (DS)
• Resident Evil (GC)
• Super Paper Mario (Wii)
• Super Metroid (VC)
• Sin & Punishment (VC)

And for some reason I really want to play Tales of Symphonia again.

Now..my immediate goal will be ..finish Phoenix Wright, Advance Wars, Final Fantasy V, Zack & Wiki, Donkey Kong Country, Sin & Punishmentand Super Paper Mario before Christmas..where I will supposibly be getting Mario Galaxy, Phantom Hourglass and Fire Emblem Wii.

Aaaand go.

What with Metroid Prime 3 fever about to hit, we're all gonna need a cool and hipper way to talk about it.

So for now on, Metroid (Prime)..will be known simply as 'Troid.

So now on your MSN status you can still let everyone know you're busy playing an awesome video game all while still sounding cool (thus increasing your chance to mate with women!).

Come August 28th my name will go something like this "Playing some 'Troid" ..possibly "Playing some 'Troid 3" And I'll be the coolest kid around. Atleast one hot girl will ask me "what's troid?" And I will hit them with some knowledge

Also on a non Metroid-sorry ..I mean 'Troid note.. I want the expression "Cheese it!" to come back. Whenever you and your gangneed to make a quick exit/escape from somewhere, yell out "Cheese it!" and hilarity will follow.

Anyways, I'm off to prepare myself for some 'Troid.