Yes, it's definitely been a while since my other blog, so I'll keep this one short and sweet.

I've been sick recently, so my time on GameSpot increased.  I ran into a few forum vets in OT and had a great time talking to them (Apple Orcas go!).  My girlfriend and I are still going strong and my friends are starting to return from Sakuracon.  I'd go if the whole thing didn't scare the bejeezus out of me.  Cosplayers...*shiver*.

Also, it may be a while until I post again since Harvest Moon: Magical Melody releases tomorrow.  I'll be all alone in my dank Gamecube dungeon plugging hour after hour into this game.  I'm so excited!

See?  Short and sweet.  Hope you all have a great day and I'll see you online.

Since I don't think I care enough about that Gamecube post to actually finish it, I decided that three months was enough.  Here I am, rock you like a hurricane!  Yeah, so....

I've been playing Star Wars Battlefront 2 with my friend Dizz and we've made quite a lot of headway in the Rise of the Empire mode.  It's been a lot of fun along with a lot of frustration.  First off, we can't seem to figure out how to tell our guys to stand back and cover us, thus not losing the round due to the large pile of corpses in the middle of the field.  I think we'd enjoy playing Galactic Conquest a lot more since you can actually defeat the numbers of the enemy instead of trying to get that dang bomb in front of Yavin base.  Oh, and I'd hate to be the rebel that has to deal with Dizz as Lord Vader.  I've never seen someone choke so many people before actually trying to finish the mission.  I also enjoyed watching the Rancor devour anyone foolish enough to get in front of it.

Smackdown vs Raw 2006 comes out today.  Dizz gets it tomorrow.  You will not hear from me after that.  I will be too busy creating the perfect powerbomb machine to toss uneducated wrestlers off the top of the cell.  I also plan on burying them soon afterwards.  After the match, I will unleash my inner Rico and decorate my locker room with all kinds of wrestling paraphernalia.  Whoops, forgot about GM mode and running Raw.  In comparison to other Smackdown games, this game is an explosion of new modes.  Tomorrow can't come fast enough.

Lastly, to further solidify that I am a true nerd in every respect of the word, I am almost done writing the background story to my Kel Dor character in the Star Wars D&D game I'm apart of at my college.  He ends up blowing up both his side and most of the enemies side in a poorly aimed sniper shot.  Sounds like what happens when I play Battlefront 2.

That's all for this entry and remember that the game doesn't flop, you do.  The buffet can be found down the hall in room 206.

Why, Gamecube? Why do you just sit there and get me all excited for a game and then I find out you can't play it? This has been a trend that's been bothering me for a while. I think it's time we confronted these issues head on. I want some answers.

First off, it seems that whenever a multi-platform game comes out that I'm actually excited to play comes out, it turns out that multi-platform only refers to the PS2 and the XBox. The latest example I can think of is the Capcom Classic Collection. When the collection that will undoubtedly be one of the best and most nostalgic collections out on the market was announced, I was in love. I read the preview and I loved every second of it. Then I get to the end and I read that it'll only be released for PS2 and XBox. Why did you have to skip this one, Gamecube? What was so much more special about Namco and Midway? What hurts the most is that most of these games, if not ALL of them, were on your forefathers NES and SNES? Did you just assume that I already had these games and didn't need the Gamecube to play them?

Second, it's this weird selective game thing that you do. You know what I'm talking about. NCAA Football 06 for the PS2, Xbox, but NOT Gamecube. See, this one I don't get at all. You don't think it's necessary to give me the college game, which is an EXCLUSIVE license by the way, but feel that I should get Madden? What possible reason could you have for giving me one and not the other? They're a set. I've been making draft classes and exporting them to the Madden game for years and this Road to the Heisman mode made me so excited to bring the created player I always make to the Superstar mode of Madden. Would you let me do that, though? Of course not Gamecube, you know better than me. Did you realize I can't get a different NCAA game from somewhere else? I didn't have a choice in the first place and you took any opportunity of getting the Heisman away from me! I just don't get why you would give me only half of the experience. Did it get in the way of some Mario College Football game?

Yeah, maybe that's it. Maybe you think your characters are so superior to any other game that it's pointless to even support them. Well, I got news for you Gamecube, your not the only franchise in town. Your forefathers could make a franchise just by making a sequel. Why can't you do it? They were the only game in town. There was no system that people thought of other than the NES and SNES. You, however, have Sony and Microsoft to worry about. You've still stuck to your arrogance and elitist attitude your grandparents had and look where it got you. You can't depend on your Gameboy brother with the PSP gaining a lot of headway in the handheld market. People are even saying that the Revolution could be it for Nintendo. You hear that Gamecube?

*Will be edited when I return from Halo*

However, that will change soon as I am returning home in a week and a half. My internship is winding down and I can't say this was as fulfilling as my first internship. I learned not only how to interact in a workplace environment and proved that I could work 18 hours a day, but I even learned about myself and a tough lesson in taking responsibility. This time, however, I've felt more isolated than anything. I left a lot more this time around than I did exiting high school. I was planning to go to PAX, spending time with my girlfriend at Moses Lake, having LAN parties with my friends, and even getting a job. What I sacrificed to be here just wasn't worth the experience I got this time. My dad's threats of me either going on the internship or "spending six hours a day in the classifieds to look for a job you'll hate" got to me and I hate that.

However, I had an awesome week when my mother and my girlfriend came down to visit me. We went to the Tutankhamen exhibit at the LA Museum, went to a wedding on my mom's side of the family, went and played mini-golf at Castle Park, and especially spending quality time with my two favorite girls in the whole world. Me and my girlfriend did have a couple fights, but it was sort of expected given how she acts when she's not familiar with her surroundings.

The GBA SP my girlfriend gave me before I came down has gotten it's fair share of action. I've been playing Friends of Mineral Town like crazy, only broken up by bouts of Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising. Both of these games are far more entertaining than the Gamecube I brought down. I haven't touched it since I got here, mostly because I've either been too busy to devote time to the console, couldn't play a game because I let friends borrow a few before I left, and my stupid move of giving my main memory card to a friend of mine during my internship. Stupid stupid me.

I'm coming home soon and I can't wait. As soon as I get back my girlfriend's kidnapping me and taking me to Wild Waves and a weekend at Bumpershoot. It's going to be awesome just to see Harvey Danger in concert! Woo! Oh, and comedian Todd Barry will also be there. Man, it's going to rule.

Hope everyone has had a good summer so far and...umm...yea.

I think it's become clear to every gamer that we're about to enter a seemingly bottomless spiral of politicians bending things out of proportion and making blanket statements about the industry over one game. Face it, the media will villianize gaming to a point where we just may see protesters outside the local Gamestop and EB Games (These are worst case scenarios, but it's possible). We gamers, to an extent, will become the bad guy we like to play every so often. With Rockstar's lies and the media explosion of the "Hot Coffee" controversy, we could very well be entering a new dark age of video games.

How will this happen? For starters, Hillary will be a sort of gateway politician. She's popular enough in the media to get some attention when she takes up a cause. When the media decides to launch the story as a national epidemic, they will villianize video games as a whole through constant showing of clips and multiple stories about GTA: San Andreas. Yea, maybe another Rockstar game, but that's it. That's all it will take to make video games the new kidnapped Amber Alert child or the new West Nile Virus. The backlash will be politicians of all kinds taking on another game as their own cause, looking for the family friendly PR for that soccer mom vote. I can see it now, senators in the local Gamestop fighting over the last copy of Doom 3, not to play it, but to show the box on the news while they trash it.

Now in comes the ESRB. They're facing a really tough time now since San Andreas had content that they were not notified about, but it won't matter much as politicians and the PMRC crowd scrutinize them for not being strict enough and not upholding their ratings. They'll have to take action. I bet they'll make San Andreas AO. This decision won't stop anything. This victory will just cause all the senator's wives to create an entity to put their own ratings and labels on products that would advise parents about their purchasing decision. That's right, I predict the VG PMRC.

Alright, enough conspiracy theories, time for some ideas to help solve the problem. I have an idea where the ESRB gives stores the option of having anyone buying an M or AO game sign a kind of contract. Just a simple contract that states that the signer understands the rating and that no one under 17 should play this game blah blah blah. This system would....

A) Show politicians that the video game industry can regulate itself and is willing to try new ways to enforce their ratings when old ways fail.

B) Passes the responsibility of the game and it's content solely over to the person who signs the contract. Next time a mother in Iowa blames her son's Max Payne addiction to the death of another teenager, the documentation saying she understood the rating and shouldn't have let him play it in the first place will be readily available. It could force parents to actually pay attention to something their children do.

C) Be only a minor inconvenience to regular gamers in return for a bit of security that they won't have to go underground the next time a game developer pulls another Rockstar.

Alright, time for my personal take on Hot Coffee. I think that it's the most ridiculous thing to get worked up about. The violence of GTA gets attention, but the sex minigame that's not even apart of the actual game (only throw away code) is just going to blow the industry wide open. I've seen screenshots and I can honestly say that I laughed pretty hard. They weren't even naked! Why would I download a mod so I can see two polygonal people dry hump? Besides, nobody really likes rhythm games anyway. If you consider Hot Coffee pornographic, stay the hell away from the theaters and your television set.

Oh, and the whole thing about it being different because you "control" it, I see no difference from the Triangle and Square buttons of the PS2 and the Channel Up or Power button of your remote. It's always your decision if you see it. Always.

It's going to be hard leaving. July 9th is my birthday and I'm leaving two days later to go to Riverside, California. I will continue my internship there that I started last year. During this time, you'll probably see a lot less than me. To some, that's a loss to the whole forum community. To most, it's probably a welcomed relief. I'll be back from my internship Sept. 2, just before the Bumpershoot Festival in Seattle. Understandably, my girlfriend is going crazy at the prospect of losing me for another summer.

Talking about my girlfriend, she's fine now. She got released from the hospital five days after she was admitted and has been walking around ever since. She's still recovering a little bit, having to take breaks during long walks. Otherwise, she's fine.

Oh, and for those wondering, I'll be 19 years old. Here's to a safe trip and a dramatic return to GS.

My girl went in and got steroid shots to the hips to try and relieve some pain she's been dealing with, but they botched it. Her pain became so bad that she couldn't move her left leg and could barely move her right one. After about a month of that, she lost the use of both of her legs and was put in the hospital. This will be the third time she's been in the hospital this month if you include going to the ER as being in the hospital. She's getting all kinds of scans on Tuesday including MRI, bone, etc.

If I seem like more of a jerk than usual, this is probably why. I'm sorry if I've flamed anyone rather harshly.

BTW, we're celebrating our one year anniversary on Sunday. I only hope she can walk by then.

I can't believe it! It took them so long to send the letter that I was beginning to doubt I had made it at all. However, in the mail today, was this letter I received from my college.

"Dear [not showing my name],

It is my distinct pleasure to inform you that your name has been placed on the Edcc [shortened it to hide school name] Dean's Honor Roll for Winter Quarter 2005. Based on your excellent scholastic work during Winter Quarter, you met the Honor Roll terms of completing 12 or more credits, in decimal-graded, college level courses numbered 100 or above, with a grade point average (GPA) of 3.5 or higher.

Additionally, students who maintain a 3.5 GPA and have accumulated a minimum of 16 credits toward an AAS or ATA Degree may be eligible to join our chapter of the national honors society...."

It goes on about contact information and what not, but you get the point. Someone's gonna have to tie a string to my ankle because my head's going to swell up and carry me off into the sky. I would like to thank GameSpot for this honor due to it's ability to keep my sanity when school got really...really hard. Here's to maintaining that GPA.

My friend Dizz gave me a book a week ago filled with webcomics from MegaTokyo. Since I love webcomics (I constantly frequent Penny Arcade, Ctrl Alt Del, and VGCats), I was eager to read through some of them. It only took two days for me to work my way through Vol. 1. Dizz then gave me Vol. 2. I read the whole thing through in one night., including the bonus Shirt Guy Dom comics and the Endgame short story. I'm now on Vol. 3.

It's like crack. I just can't stop. I need h3lp.

You like? It's a drawing Kat did as a present for my 18th birthday due to our mutual love for Pearl Jam. It's the first picture sig I'll have ever used at GameSpot (Other than the GoScars sig I had for a month). Enjoy.