I just bought a nice blue Nintendo DS--literally the day before Nintendo announced the $20 price reduction coinciding with next week's release of Nintendogs. Nothing like great timing. The strange thing was, even though I bought the handheld, I didn't buy a single DS game to go with it (instead, I ended up purchasing Fire Emblem 2) simply because since the launch of the console, there hasn't been a single game I've been interested in enough to even consider buying. Now here I am DS in hand, in preparation for all the good stuff that's about to come down the pipe. Consider the following:

Advance Wars Dual Strike is almost here; Trauma Center and Phoenix Wright are about a couple months out; and the holy grail--Animal Crossing DS--is dropping in November. Don't forget Mario Kart DS, either. Even though I never really got into previous Mario Kart entries that much, the thought of playing the game online whenever Nintendo gets their Internet skillz together has me pumped up. Hell, I even Gamefly'd Sprung this week, though I felt a little dirty doing so.

And then there's Nintendogs, a game that charmed me the instant I saw it at this year's GDC. I was lucky enough to write one of our first previews for the game and, ever since, it's been on my mind as an example of a game that well and truly "fits" into the console it was designed for. Other games I slot into this category would be NFL 2K for Dreamcast (the VMU playcalling made that game); Halo 2 for Xbox (the game that pushed Xbox Live further than ever before); and Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec for PlayStation 2 (sure GT4 trumps it in every category, but GT3 was the first "wow" game on the PS2).

In my anticipation for Nintendogs, I find myself trading IMs with my 13-year old cousin (also a DS owner and future Nintendogs player) almost daily as we plan our puppy training strategies, which breeds we want to raise first, and all the fun we'll have taking our virtual dogs for walks. Meanwhile, I've got two real dogs (a Cairn Terrier named Walt and a what-the-hell-is-that? named Ollie) who will probably spend the next few weeks wondering why the virtual dog is getting walked every hour on the hour, while they've got to practically beg me to take them for a potty break. Sorry guys. It's not you, it's me.

In between sessions of NHL 2K6 and NHL 06, where will you be heading for a dose of televised hockey? Not, ESPN, ABC, or Fox, that's for sure. Instead, puck fans looking for the real thing will be heading to the home of the Tour de France, the Outdoor Life Network. The Comcast-owned OLN secured a two-year deal with the NHL, agreeing to televise its games for a reported $65 million during the first year, and $70 million in the second. Considering TV revenue is shared among all thirty teams, that means approximately $2 million per team or, in San Jose Sharks terms, "about one half of Patrick Marleau's yearly salary." It's strange to think of televised NHL without the likes of Gary Thorne, Bill Clement, Darren Pang, and Barry Melrose's hair. And considering the mess the Stanely Cup Finals will be (the first two games on OLN, the final four on NBC), I can't help but wonder if the NHL will have much luck gaining traction with this deal. Still, it's a start--a meager one--but a start nonetheless. After the developments of the lockout and its fallout, I suspect that NHL and its players are happy just to be back in the game, even if they have to share the screen with Lance Armstrong.

I hate losing. Hate it. Hate. H. A. T. E.

I think it's one of my greatest flaws and the aspect of my personality that I least want to pass on to my kids (that and my overwhelming affection for Friends). I consider myself a pretty even-keeled guy and it usually takes a lot--a lot --to get me riled up. But few things tighten my jaws more than getting beat in a videogame.

Recently, we were lucky enough to have Dallas Stars' goalie and NHL 2K6 cover star Marty Turco in the office. He was along for the ride during an NHL 2K6 press tour and in addition to getting a chance to talk puck with one of the best stoppers in the game, I also got to play him in a pick-up game. As I recounted in the Sports Journal, Turco took it to me 5-3 in the match, including owning me with a couple of short-handed goals that I had no business giving up.

During the first part of the game, I remember clearly thinking "This is so cool, sitting here and chilling with a real NHLer, talking hockey, and playing some videogames." By the end of it, however, I was down two goals, fuming inside, and my internal dialogue was full of enough cuss words and violent imagery to make 50 Cent blush. Later, after wrapping up the interview with Marty, he asked me if I "let" him win. In the most honest tone I could muster, I politely told him that under no circumstances would I even let my own mother beat me in a game.

Over the past two days while playing MotoGP 3 for my most recent preview, I found myself cussing out the TV for mistakes that were across-the-board 100 percent my fault. And yet there I was, spitting vitriol at a game whose only crime was responding to my ill-advised control inputs and showing me the consequences of my actions. Furthermore, what does it really matter? It's just a game after all, not a reflection on my intelligence, insight, or worth as a human being. Sitting here now, in a state of perfect calm, behaving like such a poor loser seems silly; getting so fired up about something so trivial makes me wonder if I'm as mature as I'd like to believe I am.

At the same time, I'm reminded of something a former newspaper colleague (and fellow sore loser) told me once: "Show me a 'good' loser, and I'll show you someone who's lost too many times to tell the difference."

You hear that, Turco? I'm gunning for you, buddy. You better not show your face around here again...

Walking into work today, I saw the following bumper sticker on a van:

Dear Colleagues

My Ass

I have no idea what this means but it had me laughing all the way into the office.

In-flight movie to Chicago: Fever Pitch starring the loathsome Jimmy Fallon.

In-flight movie back to San Francisco: Miss Congeniality 2. Even without the sound you could clearly see the depths of Sandra Bullock's embarassment at ever having signed the contract demanding her presence in the sequel.

As I told Rich today, I would have much rather have suffered through four straight hours of engine failures than seen either of those abominations.

That is all.

Kelly Monaco, you've got pluck, I'll give you that. Considering your atrocious start in the first week of "Dancing With the Stars" I had you counted out early. I thought that, beyond your obvious assets, you brought little to the show; your performances were sort of spazzy and lacking any verve or commitment. Hell, even when you stepped up your game in the proceeding weeks and emerged as an unlikely finalist in the season finale, I still felt you were largely still on board because of your propensity for jiggling, not your proficiency at the jitterbug. Then you went ahead and won the damn competition. And you didn't just win it, you wowed the judges with a perfect 30 points in your final routine--a routine that even my untrained eyes could tell had you missing steps left and right (and the less said about that disastrous final landing, the better). After never having dealt a single "10" for the entire run of the show, all three judges were suddenly completely willing to fawn over your dance and award you and your partner a stunning perfect 30. I'm sorry Kelly, but you were just sold out by ABC. You were the victim of the kind of contrived fairy tale ending that makes reality television no more "real" than an episode of "Hope & Faith." Keep in mind, I have no love for John O'Hurley; he's a smarmy, smiling actor type who is so overtly sincere as to appear completely insincere in nearly every facet of his performances. But you did not deserve to win Kelly. And I think you knew it. I could tell in the facial reactions of you and your partner directly after your final dance--you knew you'd given it your all, yes, but you also knew your "all" wasn't enough. It didn't matter though, because ABC gave their all too in the form of a contrived sham ending. I feel bad too because I suspect, in your heart Kelly, you feel the exact same way.

...and realized my Xbox had been left on since the previous weekend. Umm, oops? Scary really, because it was pretty hot down there--a veritable fire hazard in the making. I shut it off and tried firing it up the next morning to play some Forza but my Thompson drive, which has always had trouble reading discs, now pretty much completely refuses to cooperate.

No way am I buying a whole new Xbox this close to the the next gen, so I suppose I'll just wait for the 360 and hope that backwards compatibility pertains to Forza, along with the rest of my collection.

Finally got the old Tivo service back, this time with the dual-channel recording sexiness provided courtesy of DirecTV. I'm wondering if I should pre-order my NFL Sunday Ticket now, or wait until I can actually afford it? With Tivo back, I've tried to branch out and record some new stuff; shows I might not consider watching otherwise, just to get a sample of what's out there that I might be missing. Some samplings of my sampling: Anime--I've never had much patience for it, but some of the stuff being run on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim is actually pretty watchable. Enjoying "s-CRY-ed" most of all, and "Samurai Champloo" has been decent. I even taped an episode of "Paranoia Agent" that I haven't gotten to yet. I've heard good things about that as well. Drama--The wife loves "House" and I've been marginally impressed as well. Hugh Laurie, of course, is the best reason to watch it, though now that Sela Ward is on board I'm bound by my male-ness to check it out next season. Speaking of medical dramas, I caught the first two episodes of "Grey's Anatomy" a few weeks back, but now ABC put the brakes on showing the repeats? Come on now! That's not fair! Comedy--I've broken my "Arrested Development" habit (the thrill is gone, Michael Bluth) but am currently jonesing for more "Scrubs" which is also on hiatus for the summer. Reality--"Dog Whisperer" - Cesar Millan's ability to handle problem dogs is remarkable and, as owner of two minor-league problem dogs, I'm consistently amazed by his no-nonsense approach to correcting bad canine behavior. Cesar's approach? Correcting behavior is never about the dog and always about the human. It's an approach that I never thought of but makes complete sense. Plus the dogs are damn cute. I'm also still enjoying "Hit Me Baby One More Time" (even if Howard Jones got robbed and the latest episode was truly scraping the bottom of the talent barrel--Glass Tiger? Thelma Houston? Puhleeze!)

New York Senator: "25 to Life makes Grand Theft Auto look like Romper Room!"

CNN Anchor: "Now there's 25 to Life, and the object is to kill cops!"

Other Media Outlets: "Look what that New York Senator and CNN Anchor said about 25 to Life!"

American Public: "Boy I sure have been hearing a lot about 25 to Life lately!"

Uninformed Gamer: "Hey I heard 25 to Life is just as good as Grand Theft Auto!"

Eidos Marketing Team: :D

Continuing the trek towards the end of Stephen King's Dark Tower cycle, the fifth book in the series--Wolves of the Calla--stops off for a lengthy stay in Calla Bryn Sturgis, a town under siege (or, more accurately, about to be under siege) by a force of mysterious "Wolves", half-men, half-monsters who are intent on kidnapping the townfolks children. It's up to Roland and his ka-tet of gunslingers to save the town's children.

It's here in Book Five that the true vision of King's epic begins to unfold. Up until now, the quest for the Dark Tower has been just that; an adventure tale, full of memorable characters and hard-hitting action. With Wolves of the Calla, things begin to turn inwards as King starts to toy with the aspects of fiction, popular culture, and his own body of work that truly make this series a career-defining epic. Of course, if you go back I'm quite certain you'd see plenty of foreshadowing for some of the self-reflective themes that really take root in this book--the melding of the multiple worlds, the curious coincidences that were never coincidence at all, etc.

Whether King had all of these themes in mind from the very beginning, or just happened upon them as happily designed accidents along the 20 year journey of writing the Dark Tower series, I have no idea. But as the series becomes more and more about ideas and less and less about the plot--and let's face it, the plot of Wolves is so straightforward as to almost be laughable--the story is now truly beginning to pick up steam. With two books to go, here's hoping that momentum keeps up all the way to the end.

Next on the old reading list: Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver