Just as Monco took the plunge with a significant purchase recently, I have also purchased a new toy to enhance my future gaming experiences. This bad boy will be hooked up to the PC, the PS2, the Xbox, the Gamecube...and possibly more depending on how it performs.

I've now played through the demo to Overlord and I have to say, I am very impressed. I have officially moved this game from my "watch it and hope it gets a good review" to my "preorder and purchase on release day" list of games. If the demo is any indication, we have a game that has a wicked sense of humor, does everything right, and doesn't forget to take care of the little things. 1. The control scheme for commanding your minions is SLICK. You can command your minions in a number of ways, and all of them are very intuitive. (I speak now for the 360 version of the game that I tried out off of Xbox Live.) You can either use one of the trigger buttons to send them forth at whatever is in sight, or you can use the right analog stick to "sweep" them through an area if they need to follow a complicated path to where you want to send them. Easy to use and quite intelligent. A push of the "B" button sounds a big horn that calls your foul underlings back to your side. 2. You know how with a lot of games, when you kill things they drop powerups or gold or whatever? That happens in this game to. Only, when your minions kill in your unholy name, they actually fetch the dropped goodies and bring them back to you. They even kneel to you while presenting the loot. Now THAT, is a nice touch! 3. The game is funny. Damn funny. Your little advisor minion is hilarious as he details what missions you'll need to undertake to rise back to evil prominance. He, and the rest of the game for that matter, are so over the top that the game feels like it came right out of a script like Lilo and Stitch from Pixar Animation Studios.

4. You get to have a Corruption Meter. In a brilliant move, Codemasters has created a tradeoff between your personal power and your authority power. What I mean by that is, if you kill innocents you grow more corrupt and your powers grow. However, the more innocents you kill, the less subjects your kingdom has. So you can either be a force of nature juggernaut killing everything in sight, or a more subtle evil tyrant. It is beautiful.



5. Speaking of beautiful, this game is absolutely stunning looking. It is one of the better looking games I've seen on the 360 to date. Rich, vibrant landscapes and colors and lovingly detailed textures show this game has some polish going for it.

6. You get an evil jester. I'm not kidding. And yes, you have the option of killing the little bugger or leaving him alive. At first he doesn't show proper respect to his evil master, but my guess is that as the game goes on and your reign of terror increases, the little bugger will grow more fawning and subservient. As it should be. 7. Playing this game will boost my ego to unprecedented heights. This is a good thing. 8. You can sacrifice your own minions to heal yourself. "They're very loyal." I could go on and on. I highly suggest those of you with access to the demo give it a shot. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Well, I have roughly one month until I get married. And, because I have absolutely terrible timing, I have reached my all-time high for my personal weight. The time has come to make a few changes in my diet. I am absolutely NOT going to go to Sweden and then Spain and confirm every European's smirking opinion of America as a country filled with fat people. (We are...but damn it all, I'm not going to be the one to confirm it!) Now don't get me wrong. I'm not in terrible shape. I'm reasonably fit all things considered. I'm 5'10" tall and 183 lbs at this point in time. So I would hardly consider myself to be a porker. That having been said, I'm a long way away from the guy who used to run half-marathon races in the mountains for fun and exercise that I used to be. And sadly, my willpower has declined over the years thanks to the wonders of high definition television sets and next generation consoles. And an absolute obsession with rich food and drinks. I love red meat. I love rum. I love coke. I love all three to be served to me together with a bit of red wine on the side. In case you're not getting the point, this is not the diet that is conducive to a long and healthy life. Now, I know that this is a GAMING blog and this isn't really a gaming post. But as I said with my second ever blog post Blogging is the ulimate expression of self-love. I figure that my chances of sticking to my goals will be higher if I have stated my goals publicly on the record. Weekly updates will be coming every Wednesday around this time. So, here is my starting weight and my target weight one month from now. Wish me luck all. Starting Weight (No clothes):182.6 lbs Target Weight (No clothes): 170 lbs

Something tells me that I'm not the only one excited for the upcoming arrival of Overlord for the PC and Xbox360. Frankly, this sort of game, where you are the bad guy, needs to happen more often. When you get right down to it, just about all of us are probably pretty good people in real life. We help old ladies across the street, hold the door for random strangers, and refrain from gratuitous killing sprees more than once every few months or so.

Now, I like playing Paladins as much as Arcadius does. Hell, I played an Aasamir Paladin for Neverwinter Nights 2 recently (which ended up being an awesome choice as the game was remarkably easy with such a character running the show for my party) but I have to say, playing a bad guy in games is fun. It allows you to harmlessly vent off all the frustrations that we feel in everyday life. And what a great idea this game is! At last, I can play the Evil Overlord the way I have always wanted them to be. I won't make the clas.sic Evil Overlord mistakes. (yes, I had to edit the word clas sic because the word filter zapped it.) No, MY Evil Overlord character will be smart.

And of course the real reason I am throwing this post up is to give myself four blog posts in one day. What I can't accomplish in quality blogging, I'm going to accomplish in sheer quantity.

(Another three blog post day! Don't forget to read my other two!) Normally I don't really consider myself to be much of a fanboy. I love games, and, being an MBA, I also understand financial decisions, economics, etc. But today's Gamespot article along with the explanation by Square Enix's president on its decision to avoid releasing its next Dragon Quest title for the PS3 or 360 has got me about as ticked off as I can ever remember being about a game platform decision. If you happen to be searching for the words "Wada, traitor, a-hole, jerk, idiot" or some equally unflattering names, and you turn up the article above, it is likely because I decided to express my frustration in a mature, sensible manner...through the use of Gamespot's "tagging" system. Heh. Before I go further, let me explain the reasons why this bothers me. 1. You are SQUARE ENIX! Your company is synonymous with role playing games for a lot of people. Dragon Warrior/Quest and Final Fantasy are what got many gamers interested in roleplaying gaming in the first place. You don't follow trends. You SET trends.

2. You are SQUARE ENIX! If you want to be known as one of THE premier game designers in the entire world, and I assume you still do, then you need to be releasing on the latest and greatest consoles, not the wimpy old DS. (Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the DS. But it isn't the platform that most hardcore gamers consider to be the cutting edge.) You need to be pushing the envelope, not sitting back and waiting for everyone to catch up.

3. The DS, a few solid exceptions aside, is not really a platform for rpg titles or rpg gamers. This is my opinion obviously, but I think the ratio of kiddie titles to actual serious games on the DS is somewhere in excess of a million to one. Does Square Enix really think that the same audience that loves Dragon Quest games is going to be the people who own the DS? 3B. If the answer to point number 3 above is "no", then what exactly are you going to be changing about one of the best franchises to date to make it appeal to the sort of people who buy the DS? 4. How could they do this to me after all the slobbering I did in my Dragon Quest VIII review recently? How dumbed down is the Dragon Quest IX game going to be if it is being moved to a second-rate, portable console? 5. Most important of all, does he really think that he is fooling anyone with an iota of intelligence from realizing that this decision is all about cashing in on a name-brand franchise rather than producing a spectacular, innovative title? Granted, Square Enix has been doing a huge amount of cashing in on its Final Fantasy name in recent years with innumerable spinoffs and crappy second-rate titles carrying the Final Fantasy name, but this is going overboard. Square's explanations for why it is making this move are lazy and transparent and I reject them. 6. If I had a scanner right now, you all would be being treated to a high-resolution image of my hairy rear end in response to this decision to avoid letting me play the next Dragon Quest game on either my $600 PS3 or my $400 Xbox360. (Not counting accessories and add-ons.) And let me tell you, my hairy rear end is not simply a LITTLE hairy. You would be looking at the missing link between Neanderthal and human evolution exposed in front of your bleeding, pained eyes. Now obviously, I'm exaggerating at least a little bit of my rage for comic effect, but that doesn't mean that I'm not still ticked off. And I think, at last, I understand why some fanboys get ticked off. They defend their favorite systems because they don't want to have to go off and buy yet another system to get all the games they want to play. If you're a Sony fan, you defend the PS3 because the thought of the next Final Fantasy title going to the 360 is terrifying to you because then it means that you spent $600 and won't get to play one of the flagship games that you spent that money for. I suspect the same argument works with just about any system, PC included. All of you can lie and say that you're just not interested in some of the console games out there, but we all know you are. Just like some of the console gamers want to play some of the PC games. But I am straying from my main point of this post. The main point of this post was that Square Enix has made a terrible decision here and that they have severely pissed off me, one of their loyal customers, to go to extreme measures. I vow, HERE AND NOW, in front of all my readers as witnesses, that I will NOT PURCHASE FINAL FANTASY XIII new from a store. I will only acquire this game second-hand or used. I don't care how long that delays my enjoyment of the game. It needs to be done. A message must be sent. Don't f*** over your loyal fans. Just as I have flat out refused to buy a new HD-DVD add-on or any HD-DVDs because Microsoft screwed me over with their piss-poor add-on accessory, and just as I ripped them for that decision, and I ripped Samsung for their faulty TVs and bad repair service, I must now punish my beloved Square Enix for turning their backs on me. And my dog died today so I'm in a really bad mood anyway.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, (and I use the terms loosely of course;) ) I have earned the ultra rare distinction of being HELLA OLD SCHOOL from Gamespot. All you fools better show some respect! Of course this was a lot cooler before I realized that pretty much everyone who posts on my blog ALSO has earned this distinction. I thought I was going to dig my old Commodore 64 games out of storage and add them to my collection to get the badge. Gamespot obviously has been lowering their standards.

Beware the power of...the Gay Bomb! You can't make this stuff up. You just can't do it. I mean, seriously, a gay bomb?! What are we, six years old? And we Americans wonder how our military budget gets as large as it does when we're financing lunatic projects like that one? Still, it is good for a laugh so I guess it may be money well spent in the end.

I have posted a Star control 2 review. Everyone should add meaning to their lives by playing this game. It is 15 years old. FIFTEEN! And still good enough that my thinking about how some people haven't heard about it or played it makes blood vessals stand out in my forehead. I'm going to need to leave the office soon because I'm getting strange looks from coworkers. They just hate me because I'm beautiful. And because I've played Star Control 2 and they have not. Their lives will never be as complete as mine. The poor ignorant bastards. Important Note: My review is based on the fact that the game came out 15 years ago. When I am commenting on things like graphics and sound, I am pretending it is 1992. I checked, and, unsurprisingly, this game made the list of Gamespot's "Greatest Games of All Time". Take a peek. Edit: Er...15 is different than 25. And, as always, I am an idiot.

Well, today is the day that I try once again to make "the leap". I refer of course to the leap into a higher blind structure at the poker house that I play at. As has been documented, I have been highly successful at the Friday game that I play at. Less well documented (since I haven't played the Wednesday game during the time I've been blogging) have been my Wednesday results. They have been less than spectacular. With higher blind structures comes stiffer competition. With more money to be won, the better players tend to flock to the bigger games. I've been comfortably nestled against the bosom of the Friday game, which attracts just the right skill level of player for me to be successful against. Sadly, the time has come once again to try my luck against some of the better players at the game. I'm zero for two where Wednesday nights are concerned, but I have gained knowledge and skill. And, like any true roleplaying game fanatic, that means trying my luck against the tougher monsters that give out larger amounts of gold and experience. And so I go. When I return, I shall likely have either won $1000 or more...hopefully $2000...or be in a really lousy mood.

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe.” Albert Einstein Never is this quote brought more into context than when you are playing poker with a call-station who won't let go of a hand.