CWJ Contest #6 I've never written so many freaking checks in my life. And huge checks at that. I have got to get into the wedding business. I'll buy a warehouse and turn it into a reception hall. Or maybe I'll learn how to take snazzy, frosted glass pictures and become a wedding photographer. Seriously, it's quite the racket these people are running.
I forgot to mention F-Zero GX in my previous entry. I'm afraid many people are going to forget to mention F-Zero GX with the whole Soul Calibur II hoopla. Hopefully that won't be the case because it's a fantastic game. Or at least it seemed to be during my late night rendezvous with it last night.
It could make you puke. Keep that in mind. It's so damn fast that if you have a weak stomach, at least stay out of first-person view.
We have a good working relationship with a fair amount of game developers and publishers, and talk with some of them quite frequently. Often, they are inclined to send us their wares for review or feature purposes, and for that we thank them. It's the nature of the beast that a Public Relations representative will try to put an overly positive spin on a product in order to drum up our excitement and get our little hearts a-thumpin'. It's their job.
When Hilden and I met with Nokia last week I tried my hardest to play the role of the skeptic. I am, in fact, still skeptical of the machine and how it will do once it hits the market. They'd whip sales projections past my nose and I'd nod my head politely, thinking, "Yeah, we'll see how that goes."
I was in a fairly popular Twin Cities game shop last night waiting for Hilden to pick out some Sponge Bob or Barbie game (I'm not sure which, but I'm positive he sucks on a pacifier when he plays), and decided to strike up a conversation with the store manager about the N-Gage. After he got past the initial sales pitch BS and understood that I wasn't interested in buying one, he became a bit more candid with me and began actually talking gamer to gamer, rather than saleman to sucker.
What shocked me is that he seemed genuinely psyched for the thing. He also said that his store had received a rather impressive number of preorders. However, his next comment was "I'm a T-Mobile user, so that's why I'm going to get one."
Yeah.
That's my biggest issue with the N-Gage. Nokia is doing a great job of hyping it up as a gaming machine, but many are still seeing it as primarily a phone.
I'd like to get your thoughts on the N-Gage. Hilden and I are working on our huge N-Gage blowout and it would be cool to get your thoughts about it. What questions do you have that you'd like answered? What reservations do you have about buying the machine, if any? What are your early impressions of the games?
Of the letters I get, I'll pick one to receive a copy of Ninja Scroll The Series: Volume 1 on DVD, courtesy of Urban Vision. Ninja Scroll is a hugely popular anime title that takes place in feudal Japan. This DVD doesn't come out in stores until next week, so once again, you can be the cool kid on your block.
So write in with your N-Gage thoughts and maybe you'll get some free shit. Cool?
Passed the Suns Ginny, Ginny, Goo-Goo. And a good morning to you.
Sorry for the gibberish, but I'm on virtually no sleep due to Soul Calibur II. Hopefully by now you've seen our PS2 review, and more importantly, hopefully the game is spinning in your console of choice right now.
If you haven't decided which version you should get, having played them all, I can tell you that it pretty much comes down to which exclusive character you're most interested in because beyond that, the differences are mostly negligible. However, I sincerely doubt any one of them will become your character of choice throughout the game. Personally, I've opted for Yunsung, due to his Hwang-ness.
All in all, the game is spectacular no matter what console you play it on, so just flip a coin and pick one. If you still can't make a choice, Kevin and Erick are working diligently on the GameCube and Xbox reviews respectively, so expect to see them on the site shortly.
I'm not sure how to explain the cheesy horror movie marathon that has plagued my living room the past week or so, but I've found myself sitting through slasher flick upon slasher flick recently. From Halloween and Day of the Dead to Evil Dead and even the hideous Friday the 13th VII. I even find myself looking forward to the coming release of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre from Pioneer, despite the press quote they've opted to use as their slogan. Just what in the hell is this supposed to mean:
"...it did for meat-eating what Hitchcock did for shower taking." - Marilyn Beck FROM HOLLYWOOD.
Meat eating? Why not chainsaw using or pig mask wearing? This has inspired me to be much more careful about my word choice when writing reviews because you never know what idiotic quote a PR rep will pull out of context and slap on the side of their product.
And with that, I'm off to crawl under my desk and catch up on some sleep.
Dabbler One of my most trusted college professors called me a "dabbler". He said that I tend to stick my feet in the water to get a feel for a subject, topic, or skill, and then move onto the next puddle. Or something of similar meaning. To an extent, I can really see what he was talking about. I tend to charge cock first into a new mania about once or twice every month. If I'm not spending months slaving over the tabla, I'm reading book upon book of Taoist teachings. One second I'm proclaiming John Cage as the end all be all of modern thought, and the next I'm getting all sweaty over the latest issue of Detective Comics.
There must come a time when you're an adult where if you don't have that one thing that you can call yourself a specialist in, you wonder what the hell it is you've been doing with your life and how in the world you're going to make it through.
So with that, I've decided I'm going to become a specialist in Soul Calibur II. Yep, that's right. I snagged my PS2 copy today, and I'll grab the others tomorrow. From that point on, I will spend my days devouring my opponents on the screen, challenging real humans to dare take a controller and oppose me.
[And you thought I was going to get all serious there, didn't you? Sorry, only one of those sappy, ponderous bullshit entries per month. I told you: I dabble.]
The beauty that is Soul Calibur II will do nothing less than radiate sunshine onto your blackened coal heart, turning it into something bright and pure. However, while the fact that Hwang has been replaced with some douche bag, punkass kid is something I will learn to live with and accept over time, the english voice acting is something I may not. I don't want to hear cheesy one liners in english, dammit! If I wanted to hear that, I'd go to a freaking Vin Diesel movie. Part of the charm of the original was the authenticity of it all. And part of that authenticity due to the fact that the voices remained in Japanese and were subtitled in english.
It's amazing how people will spend their time. Throwing knives? Well, then again, look how we spend our time. Playing video games.
Hilden and I have spent the last couple of days working pretty steadily on a new GamingWorld X feature that will hopefully entertain you as much as it entertains us to work on it. I can't tell you what it is at this particular moment, but I will say that it may lead GWX in a new direction. One that'll keep you guys coming back and laughing on a regular basis.
So enough teasing.
Are you jacked for Soul Calibur II? I can't believe the time has finally come for my favorite fighter to once again steal all my time. Although I'm not sure I can tear myself away from my Mary Kate & Ashley photo. Damn, that thing still creeps me out.
Unfortunately, I don't have much to say today as the previously mentioned top secret project has been occupying all of my time. That being said, I forgot to mention last week: Strong Bad has updated his email! Finally!
