I haven't played anything other than Puzzle Quest for more than thirty minutes. I ... I have a problem

They're ports. Nothing more. Seriously, XBLA has most of their games have graphical upgrades that don't make their games look like crap. Can you imagine Ocarina with anti-aliasing and light bloom *cough* Twilight Princess *cough.* If they somehow get Goldeneye on the VC and it doesn't have some form of online play, I will be severely letdown. And I don't even like Goldeneye.

I can understand for a game like Super Mario Bros. you don't need to change a thing. But Mario 64? you could have at least put in the wallslide from the DS version (although I got the timing of wall jumps perfected in 1998, so it doesn't matter to me). And $5 bucks for Urban Champion?!?!?!?! Are you kidding me?

As of right now, I have the Zelda Collector's edition Gamecube Disc, which contains Zelda, Zelda 2, Ocarina, and Majora's Mask. I have Wind Waker. I have Twilight Princess. I downloaded A Link to the Past. I have the Ocarina Gamecube disc with the special version of Ocarina. I have my N64 carts for Ocarina and for Majora's Mask. I even have Link's Awakening DX. The only Zelda games I don't have is Ages, Seasons, Minish Cap, and the awful CDI games. I don't need to pay $10 more for another copy of a game I can play with my eyes closed. Especially when I can still play it on the Wii.

I love (sardonic) how when you put in a Gamecube disc into the Wii, you can't access the Wii menu. It's almost like they just popped in a Gamecube CPU or something and called it a day.

Let me end with this: Ocarina of Time was perfect in 1998. So far above and beyond anything before it. 10/10 with confidence. Now, the Zelda franchise has gotten bigger, but the game holds up incredibly well over time. Plenty of sidequests to keep you busy for a long time. The music is still some of the best ever put into a video game. The only music that comes to mind as better now is God of War. Maybe Katamari Damacy. However, there are some gripes against it. The obligitory "Hey, Listen" reference, the battle whelps get repetitive, and, most egregious, the cutscenes are not skipable. That just seems dated. Even Metal Gear Solid (1998 ) let you skip cutscenes.

If you don't have a cart or disc with this game on it, by all means, download it. It is a wonderful adventure that holds up extremely well. However, Nintendo have re-released this game to death already (almost as bad as Super Mario Bros.). Plus, many people, like myself, who have played it to death already.

My Top Eleven Games of All-Time

#11 - The Legend of Zelda : A Link to the Past (SNES)
#10 - The Sims (PC)
#9 - Burnout 3 : Takedown (Xbox)
#8 - Half-Life (PC)
#7 - Grand Theft Auto III (PS2)
#6 - Tetris (GB)
#5 - Street Fighter II Turbo (SNES)
#4 - Lode Runner (Apple II computer)
#3 - Chrono Trigger (SNES)
#2 - Super Mario World (SNES)
#1 - The Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time (N64)

Funny thing is, I never had an SNES, I've played ports of all of the SNES games on this list.

Greatest games I've never played

Starcraft
World of Warcraft
Warcraft I, II, & III
Super Metroid
Super Mario RPG
Monkey Island 1 & 2
Rayman 2 (currently need a memory pak for the N64 and then it will work)
Contra
Bionic Commando
Punch-Out!!
Grim Fandango
Shenmue 1 & 2
System Shock 2
Double Dragon
Mega Man 2 (or any, for that matter)
Fallout
X-COM
Far Cry
Anything on the Xbox 360 other than Geometry Wars

Not five minutes after I finish beating Elite Beat Agents on easy, my DS cracked hinge situation get a lot worse. Now the side of the DS that shows the battery level and recharge is actually not connected to the top screen anymore, I'd have pictures, but no digital camera. The top screen still gets audio and video, but I will never put it in my pocket in this situation. I'll have to call Nintendo again. I think I know what I did to cause the cracked hinge in the first place.

I just got off the phone with Nintendo Customer Help.  The guy on the phone was really helpful. I told him about my busted copy of Wii Sports and he sent me a replacement disc that should be at my door in 3-6 days. Sweet. Talked to him about the broken hinge on my DS Lite and he said that they could either try to fix it now or I could wait til it actually affects gameplay, if it ever does, and get it reapired then. I decided to keep it for now. All around, a very pleasant experience.

Also picked up San Andreas for the Xbox, because I'm determined to have games for that system that aren't backward compatible with the 360, and Elite Beat Agents, cause I beat Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! on medium yesterday, while I was there, I picked up Audioslave's first album, it is great so far.

Wii Sports doesn't work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Twilight Princess works fine, played it for a couple of hours. Popped in Trauma Center, works fine, played it for an hour and a half. Made a Mii of myself. Popped in Metroid Prime and my memory card, got a missle expansion and saved.

Put in Wii Sports and the Wii cannot recognize the disc.

Turned the system off and on, same problem. Popped in Trauma Center, took it out, same problem.

HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO SHOW THIS TO THE CAUSAL CROWD WITHOUT Wii SPORTS!?!?!?!?!?!

I'm going to call Nintendo tomorrow and get another copy. At least that's how this situation better go down.

I got a Wii.

Life Wasted - Pearl Jam : I like that they put in new music by Pearl Jam. I don't really know why, but something about older Pearl Jam songs that get radio play just grate my ears. I actually like this song. Thumbs up.

Rock and Roll Hootie Coo - Rick Derringer : HELL YEAH.

Dead! - My Chemical Romance : Meh. I'm not a big MCR fan, although I did really like I'm Not Okay (I Promise) and I think that Black Parade sounds a lot like something Queen would do. This song works well. It sounds like the same guitar play as Infected (my favorite song in Guitar Hero) and Surrender (my least favorite song in Guitar Hero II). Judgment pending.

Hush - Deep Purple : The third song in my holy trinity of awesome Deep Purple songs. Smoke On The Water is obviously # 1 and Highway Star is # 2. This is A great song, but I would have rather had Highway Star. Still, it's great to have more Deep Purple. Now if they can just put in Hitch a Ride by Boston, we'll be in business.

Billion Dollar Baby - Alice Cooper : This is not School's Out For Summer. Oh, well. I'll stop crying now. It's a decent song. Better than the MCR song. Better than a good chunk of Guitar Hero II songs. I just really wanted to play School's Out For Summer. Or No More Mister Nice Guy. Or even I'm Eighteen. *sigh.* Oh, Well, it could be worse: At least the Aerosmith song isn't I Don't Want To Miss A Thing and the Van Halen song isn't Pretty Woman.

Here's to hoping My Sharona or some version of Johhny B. Goode is in this version of Guitar Hero II. What five songs do you want in this game?

[EDIT] Salvation - Rancid : Just finished watched the vid. Seems like a cool song consistant with the quality of Guitar Hero II. Take from that what you will.

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones. First, let me say that this game is an awesome testiment to how deep and fun turn-based strategy can be. That is room for some minor improvements, but it is still great. Having said that, I have started playing this game from where I last left off and have realized that I killed 2 people who could have joined me. I can't let that slide. I'm going to finish this game to see how it ends, and then I'll start over and play smarter.

I make it sound like a chore :)

Current Status : Tomorrow is my day off. I'll be going hunting for a Wii then. Not going to go too far if I don't find it. I already have component cables, 2 games for the Wii, $300, and extra batteries for the controller. All I need is the hardware.

[update]: No Wii today, not looking tomorrow, probably sometime next week I'll search again. I've still gotta beat Liberty City Stories and Fire Emblem SS (such an awesome combo, if I say so myself). I got a friend who's gonna buy me Warioware, so if I don't have it by the 15th, I'll be quite angry.

I had mentioned in an earlier blog that my friend was going to get me a Wii for Christmas. That was said when it was believed to arrive in a more plentiful fashion. What he has done instead is given me $300 in cash. It is up to me to wait in lines now. But, hey, I'm not complaining. Dude gave me three hundred straight cash. For Christmas. Now I can get composite cables for free, if I can find them. Or a Wii for that matter. Oh, well. The hunt is on.