J Marv

CM Goth? I think CM Telemarketer is more like it. Holy shit that gimmick would rule. You could do guest commentary by calling the PbP guy's cell phone. JR: "We've got a real slobberknocker here to-" *Cell Phone Rings, JR answers* "Hello?" Telemarketer: "Yes, is James Ross in?" JR: "You're speakin' to him. You've caught me at a bad time, could you call back later?" Telemarketer: "I'm sorry Mr. Ross, I was just calling to share my thoughts on the great match-up going on inside the ring right now. But if this is a bad time I can..." JR: "Excuse, me, but who do you represent?" Telemarketer: "I work for World Wrestling Entertainment. Have you heard of the WWE before, Mr. Ross? We produce and air several hours of original sports entertainment broadcasts every week on cable and national television, as well as monthly Pay per View events." And so forth. PS: It was a lot funnier in my head.

A really interesting blog column about the necessity for Nintendo to innovate.

Well, maybe a little further. NCSU Campus Police Blotter Hilarity Here's my personal favorite:

I know he's probably speaking in kayfabe terms about something that happened or Raw that I haven't seen; but truer words have never been spoken about the wrestling business.

It's a 3-D fighting game (literally 3-D, since many characters can fly, or in the case of Spidey and Venom, swing). I have no idea what the storyline is about. The commercial intrigued me to, but to be honest, the gameplay didn't look too impressive in IGN's videos. They didn't seem to indicate that battles could be more than one-on-one, and given the style...a 4-man free for all or 2v2 would rule. Not to say that it won't be awesome, I really don't know. But I wasn't that impressed. It is fairly ambitious though.

Kinda makes you wonder where he would be now had WWE been a little more sensitive to the bombings in London.

Well..according to Wikipedia he turned down a scholarship to Miami in 1993, which would make him about 30. I figured he was younger than that...simply because I find it hard to believe he's been wrestling for that long. EDIT: That is, for the last 12 years (though he did take a hiatus to run the Doghouse).

Did the full Homicide / Maff story ever come to light? No, the only thing we know is what Homicide said, which honestly isn't very enlightening. Just that Maff betrayed him, is a "pedophile," and it affected Homicide's family. On a side note...I had no idea Homicide was as old as he is.

Slightly more detailed spoilers at the Observer mention some stuff about JBL cutting a promo with a white horse, then doing a run-in on the horse (gallop-in? canter-in?) during the Kennedy/Mysterio match. Also, something about Eddie getting a handjob (which I'm sure UPN will love). And also the Grenier/Holly stuff happened differently...but whatever. Kennedy vs. Mysterio and the main event sound fun. Will also watch for Blaster Lashley. Depending on some of the match times...it could be good. I really hate it when people try to judge shows based on spoilers (though I am probably guilty of it myself sometimes), especially when the people spoiling have to interject their opinions into everything.

Really? It's quite obvious to me as to why. Some poor artist and animator had to watch all the footage of Gene Snitsky they could get their hands on in order to get a feel for his look and mannerisms. Do you really think these people would be in any position to flatter him? I don't.

So someone actually had to spend time to create a lifelike version of Gene Snitsky? I hope he was well paid.

It's still more complicated and more of a simulation of real life than using a controller. What I mean is, when you're using steering wheels and pedal sets, it's effectively an imitation of real life. If the physics are accurate enough (and they only are for a few games, most famously, Grand Prix Legends), the simulation can even make you a better driver or get you familiar with tracks you've never actually driven on (several NASCAR drivers have mentioned using driving games to improve their skills and driving lines on specific tracks). EDIT: That's what I was comparing the possibility of say...fencing in Zelda. You would be imitating real life, with motions similar to those you would make in real life to perform the task. That's all I was trying to get out the comparison, not that driving or flight sims provide a good workout. Why would they need to cater to the hardcore fans? That doesn't make any sense. You never cater to the hardcore fans because they're gonna stay (see: E,WW). I do agree however that Nintendo needs to get the word out that they do have mature games. They are doing a much better job of it recently with the DS ads, however, so hopefully this trend will continue. You also realize that 2004 was the biggest year for Nintendo EVER in the handheld market? They are far from losing customers or money despite the fact that the Gamecube was not as successful as the XBox or PS2. And why are they going to fail? They're getting people talking (IGN has like 4 or 5 articles dedicated to the controller), so they've accomplished something, whether it was intentional or not (and you don't introduce a "radical" [it isn't that radical, really, just a lot of accessories in one] new controller design unintentionally). I would also like to make a point here to mention that I don't think that this is the greatest controller ever or anything, but I just think that the design and functionality have the potential to create some very fun and interesting gameplay. I was trying to be sarcastic there. Nobody is that lazy, right?

No it isn't. Arcade games have featured activity other than joystick plus buttons for some time. For home consoles, the Zapper, and other light guns (and the remote features such functionality) and though they're more prevalent on the PC, you can reach ludicrous levels on control with joysticks, rudder pedals, and throttle controls. Also, driving wheel and pedals have declined in popularity with the death of Papyrus (the kings of the hardcore driving sim), but ACT labs made fully featured wheel and pedal systems with a clutch and gear shifter (they don't anymore with the decline of the genre, but they did at one time). Plus, wasn't the fishing controller for the Dreamcast fairly successful? Plus...even if you are right (since admittedly, I used very niche examples), Nintendo has said that they are trying to attract a new kind of gamer with this system. It wasn't designed to make you happy, it was designed to attempt to bring people who don't normally play video games on home consoles into the market. And honestly...are you really too lazy to wave a remote control around?

Playing Guild Wars still...working on missions and side quests with my level 17 R/Mo. I have also decided to play Final Fantasy VII again, to see if it is as good as I remember it. Now, I just have to track down my copy.....Good! I have it. Will start FF7 tomorrow night.

It's gonna plug into a more conventional controller, so no worries about traditional games like Madden or Smash Bros. I think people are underestimating this thing. How cool would it be to be able to wield that thing like a sword in a Zelda game using the motion detector. Not to mention stuff like fishing games. Also a remote style controller would allow for great use in RPG's and adventure games which have fewer neeeds for buttons, but in which the use of a mouse style cursor would be helpful, for things such as locating hidden items and menu navigation.

We get this shit, but no Captain N? Bah.

I blame Triple H. EDIT: The mainpage should be working. It is for me anyway.

Oh God, as who? Glad I watched the JDM version then. Most of those voices were really good, if not perfect (Keiji Fujiwara was PERFECT as Reno).

So yeah...I just watched it this morning. Freaking amazing. I don't think I'm in any place to write an objective review of this thing...but suffice to say that it's a visual masterpiece. It's really cool to recognize things from the game and see them rendered in ultra detail. It also recently occurred to me that only Cid and the Turks dress like normal people. SPOILERS AHEAD....YE BE WARNED The fights with Bahamut (it actually might be Ultimate Weapon, but Kadaj asked Rufus what he should summon next, and the thing is very dragon-like, plus he summoned it with Cloud's materia, so I figured it was Bahamut) and Sephiroth are fucking INSANE. There'es really no other way to say it.

Freeze Dried Movies is reporting this (I have no idea whether this is reliable or not): Franco is Osborn, so it'll be good if he's Hobgoblin. That sounds like way too many villains though, especially since any one of those should be more than a match for an individual Spidey.

Ant-Man may not suck as much as one may think. From IGN Filmforce: Edgar Wright is a really good comedy director, so it could turn out well. I don't have high hopes or anything, though.

I just got Guild Wars on Tuesday, finally. I get the feeling that it shouldn't have taken me 2 days to get to the Searing, but whatever, it's a lot of fun.

Age of Empires III Maybe Need for Speed: Most Wanted, but I have reservations about it.

S-T, I think you're way off base with that. It's not just the sexual content. It was pretty much as bad as an M game could get before the ESRB found out about the sex scenes. While the sex scenes themselves wouldn't put say, Tetris, into AO territory, it very well could with San Andreas. San Andreas has much more profane language than Vice City or III had, and not to mention that the game features much more anti-establishment situations than previous titles. I'm not blasting the game for that, by the way, as I know it was a result of the location and time period they chose, just saying it more than earned a M rating without the sex. I think the sex scenes were more the straw that broke the camel's back, rather than a sack of bricks that broke the camel's back, with regards to the rating. And I said this at the 'Tory, but what constitutes as a hack or mod shouldn't be included in the game rating. It's simply not fair to Rockstar. And please don't tell me it's on the disc, many other games include unused content, but don't get rated for it. KOTOR II comes to mind. Some of the unused content involves a lot of dying and premeditated murder, something that would surely affect a game rating, yet it is not rated with regard to that content, because, as the game is sold in stores, that content is unaccessible.

I guess I should give a spoiler warning, so here it is. I just finished issue 7. It can't be Black Widow, can it? After all, doesn't the traitor say it's not the country it once believed in. I hardly think an ex-KGB super-spy ever really believed in America in the first place. The way I see it, it's one of two people. Nick Fury, or Captain America. Everything that points to Cap happens in issue #6. He blows up at Hank for absolutely no reason at Triskelion, why so edgy? I know they aren't the best of friends, but still. Also, in the final shot "We crippled a nation this morning," the only Ultimate actually drawn is Captain America. Captain Britain and one of the other Euro guys, as well as some of the Giant men are drawn, but Cap is the only Ultimate. Plus, they've been drilling in the age difference, and there was the whole scene in the nightclub with Thor. Working against him is that he probably has absolutely no idea how to use a computer, and wouldn't have sacrificed Banner. Nick is hinted at when they're discussing the Ultimates and who they're bringing in. When it says "Guess who they're phasing out?" it shows Fury. Fury doesn't seem like the kind of person who'd take that lightly. He did have access to all of that stuff, and would sacrifice Banner. I guess it could also be Stark, but why, other than the reasons the traitor gave Pym? It doesn't make any sense. It can't be Hawkeye, obviously, nor Wanda, Pietro, or Thor. I'd eliminate Wasp too, as I doubt Steve would let her go back to Hank's place, as she was pretty worried about going to lunch with him. So yeah...Rogers, Fury, or Stark. If I had to pick now...I'd say it's most likely Fury, then Stark, then Captain. Wait a second...could it be Banner? He'd certainly know he was the Hulk, and somebody called Pym, thanking him...and it was Pym who made the Serum...and he does have control over the Hulk. Just how would he get soldiers though? Anyway, now that I've officially over-analyzed this...I can't wait for issue #8.