So I got my Nintendo Wii today at about 8:30 in the morning. But it's kind of strange since I got to the Wal-Mart I was planning to camp out at about 12:30 after watching the Manny Pacquiao/ Erik Morales fight (Pac-Man in the 3rd with a TKO victory).

When I got there there was about 20 other guys there so I got comfy in my chair and was prepared for a very long night. However, much to my excitement the manager of the store came out and handed everyone tickets guarenteeing everyone there a Wii until 8:30. SCORE!!!! So yeah, I got back home, slept, came back at 8:00 and got it in my hands at about 8:20. Of course, I picked up Twilight Princess with it. I'm planning on getting a classic controller, another remote and nunchuck as well as Trauma Center and Monkey Ball later on down the road.

I've really enjoyed it so far. Wii Sports is a ton of fun, so much so that my mom even decided to have a match of tennis. As for Zelda? Well, It's out of the shrink wrapping, but not in my Wii yet. The reason you ask? The damn system doesn't come with component cables, and the videophile in me just absolutely refuses to play the game unless it's in widescreen 480p. I mean, I have an HDTV, so I'm Going to use it. Other than that little quibble I've had a great experience so far, especially in terms of the ease of setting up the wi-fi to get connected to the internet.

So all-in-all, if you have a chance to get one this holiday season. Do it. It seems really great so far and you'll be surprised just how many people, even those that have never picked up a controller in their lives, will really dig it. From what I've seen so far, Nintendo's "Blue Ocean" strategy for this cycle of the console wars seems to be pretty on the ball. 

I never thought that I would be saying this, but playing street fighter online is LAME!!!!

Excuse me for going off on a bit of a rant here but honestly, playing a game that I hold so near and dear to me online should be one of the biggest things for me from a gaming perspective. However, because of horrible lag and a system that allows people to disconnect when they lose and not get penalized for it I find myself almost besides myself with extreme frustration and anger.

One example that gets me very, very upset is the way people exploit the button lag. Yeah, I'm talking to you jerks that decide to exploit it by using E. Honda's slappy hands attack. Back in the arcade it was very possible to counter this attack, even when boxed into a corner, but now, when the hands start slapping, it's pretty much a done deal, unless, by a stroke of luck a counter maneuver can be executed.

Continuing with my rant against the button lag, there's the fact that executing relatively simple 3 or 4 hit combos are now extremely difficult to execute since you have to accommodate for the button lag. I'm not saying that you can't get used to executing them again, I'm just saying that it can sometimes really irk you when it things don't happen the way they should.

As for those accursed people that just love to disconnect, well, I think you all can relate when I talk about this. I mean, come on people, it's just a game. If you lose, you lose. That's it. Losing is as big a part of Street Fighter, or any fighting game for that matter, as winning is. So for the sake of fair competition please take losing as a matter of course and just move on to your next opponent and not have me wait for around 15 seconds while you disconnect and screw me out of a legitimate ranked victory.

This is probably like the 200th blog post about the newly announced Revolution title by someone today, but I just can't resist talking about it.

At first, I was very skeptical of the name, I mean, come on, Wii? As in Wee? That's just way too easy to make fun of, and I did get a good laugh at its expense. However, after having the title come out of my mouth a few times I've found that the name has really grown on me. So much in fact that I can't stop saying it. So come on people, give the name at least another chance.

Everyone say it with me now, "WHEEEEEEE!!!!" There, now wasn't that fun?

Yesterday in my local EB I found a piece of buried treasure. Metal Gear Solid 2 (not substance) only for $10! What a find!

Just picked up a DS today with a copy of Mario Kart and Advance Wars, and, just as I thought, I'm loving it! If your haven't picked up a DS yet, I recommend you pick one up immediately, you will not regret it! 

In my last blog, I talked about my unwillingness to make the jump to the next generation. Yet here I am, now with a shiny new Xbox 360, and a copy of Project Gotham Racing 3 to go along with it.

Some might call me a hypocrite for saying I won't take the plunge to next-gen just yet, but I still do. Well, you know what? I don't care about those people. I am now very much willing, and extremely happy, to say that I decided to make the jump to the next-generation, and am happy to report that the grass is indeed greener on the other side. That is why, it is with my highest reccomendation that you all get out there and try to get yourself a piece of the next generation as soon as possible.

As for all you Xbox 360 haters, and I know there are a lot of you out there, let's all just hope that Sony decides to change their whacky batarang controller design, and hopefully make it a little more affordable than what all the rumors are saying it will be. 

With the next generation of console gaming right around the corner, I've begun to reflect on what this generation has accomplished so far -- and that's when it hit me. This next generation of consoles is coming way too soon.

I mean, really now, is the next generation really that amazing? Especially with the visually stunning games that have just recently come out, along with the upcoming games like Resident Evil 4, God of War, Burnout Revenge, Black and Okami, I really don't think it's necessary for next-gen to be upon us so soon.

By now you all must be like, "But wait, what about MGS4, or Killzone 2 or Gears of War?" I too, am totally hyped for those games, but you know what? Gears of War is not a launch title and I really don't think that Killzone 2 and MGS4 is going to be either. Would it not be worth to wait at least another year or two to get your hands on these games at launch? What about Halo 3? There's been absolutely no word on it, and without a game like it at the X360's launch, you can definitely see why a lot of people are on the fence about the system.

In conclusion, I honestly have to say, I think that next-gen is jumping the gun far too soon. With developer's only now able to tap into the full power of the current generation's console technology, we could have seen some of the best years in gaming. Alas, that is not to be; instead we will boldly go into the realm of the next generation, where the feat of sixty frames per second seems a near impossible task.

After just recently reading the news for the Halo movie coming out, I must say that I'm less than excited. Looking back at the track record of video games turned into movies the future for a good Halo movie is rather bleak. In case you don't believe me lets take a walk down memory lane shall we?

Street Fighter, one of the best game franchises ever. However, when it was turned into a movie, they got Jean-Claude Van Damme to play Guile and focused the entire movie on Guile rather than the series's actual main characters, Ken and Ryu, turning what was an amazing game into one of the worst movies ever. Another example comes in the form of those oh-so incredibly crappy Resident Evil movies. Once again Capcom got bit in the ass by not one but two God-awful movies. But that's not to say that only Capcom has had to suffer, look at Midway, they had to endure the ridicule of their best selling series, Mortal Kombat, because of the terrible injustice the movies did to the games - particularly the second movie. And I may not have seen the Alone in the Dark movie yet, but I think the critics speak volumes for how that video game-movie adaptation resulted.

With such abysmal displays of video game-movie transitions it's hard to be anything but pessimistic about this upcoming Halo movie. Since this game is so wildly popular and there are so many huge Halo fans in the world, the movie won't be able to balance the mainstream movie goer and the hardcore gamer, more specifically the big Halo fans. The reason why it'll be close to impossible to strike such a balance comes in the game's length as supposed to a feature length movie's length. The Halo game lasted roughly 10-20 hours, a movie lasts anywhere between 1.5-3 hours, and since the game's single player campaign was so story driven, they're going to have to cut out many potentially important parts that hardcore fans are going to be disappointed not to see. As for an average movie goer - one who doesn't play video games and is clueless as to what Halo is - they're going to be none the wiser as to cut out bits, but they can still tell slick from s***, and if the movie does end up coming out as crap, then your looking at another "Alexander" on your hands.

Let's face it Hollywood and the video game industry just don't go well with each other, but they still keep trying, and I may not like the idea of a Halo movie, but I know I'm still going to drag my butt to the local movie theatre to go see it. However I'll do so in a most disgruntled manner.

For the past few months I - and, perhaps, a number of you - have noticed that there has been a sudden surge of games based on (of all wars to pick) Vietnam.

Being from Canada I'm not too sure of the American perspective of this sudden influx of games based on one of the most controversial wars in history. Personally games like these Vietnam games kind of disturb me. And while it's great that developers are finally moving away from the WWII stage to strike ideas for new games from, don't you think that it's just a little bit weird that they decided to pick Vietnam? And when I say Vietnam I mean the Guerrilla war-faring, booby-trapping, napalm bombing, America losing Vietnam.

That's the other problem I seem to have with these Vietnam war games. Now unless my history teacher, along with my history textbook, is lying to me then isn't it true that America actually lost that war since they had to withdraw their troops from the war zone due to the unpopularity of the war and the amount of casualties? But in these games it seems that the American soldiers are on the victorious side of these games. Now I don't mean to cause any sort of political backlash by writing this but don't you think that, in order to create a more realistic experience, it would be historically accurate to have the American soldiers lose?

In conclusion to my little observation and analysis of the new-found virtual war zone that is Vietnam. I believe that, if gamers truly want a more realistic experience like a lot say they do, then these designers either have to flip the perspective of who you're playing as (the Vietcong), or use a different war (other than WWII) or, better yet, come up with their own fantasy war zone a la Halo, Far Cry, or Half Life.