Anime North, which I am told is one of the biggest anime conventions in North America, was held last weekend and Otakus, fanboys, people who want to be Japanese and all manner of other scum and villainy flocked to it like a perverted Mecca. For the past three years friends of my who regularly attend the convention have tried to talk me into going, this year I finally did. While I'm not exactly the biggest anime fan, I did enjoy myself. For one, there was a tons of gaming related stuff there, which wasn't too much of a surprise as Anime and Gaming nerds share many common interests. Rare gaming goodies were on sale and while most of the REALLY rare stuff (like copies of FFIII for SNES or the REAL FFIII for Famicom) were well over the $100 mark, less rare but equally juicy gems such as Starfox (SNES) were only $10! So yeah, I spotted a copy of Starfox and childhood fav, Pokemon Snap, and bought them both. There were other good games but I didn't have enough cash for them all. I also ended up buying a pretty big Wario plushie (Wario is a god). Honestly though, the best part of my day at Anime North was when I got a signed sketch from Scott Ramsoomair, the cartoonist behind the VG Cats webcomic.

I'd be lying however if I said that their wasn't part of me that was scarred for life. I'm sure you've seen people in cosplay before, maybe on the Internet or a photo, but seeing these people UP CLOSE is a much different. Yeah, some of the costumes are pretty cool, but for every guy in a GOOD Cloud costume there is fifty fat chicks dressed as scantly-clad Yunas and twenty DUDES dressed as Sailor Moon. Also, I was promised hentai, but all there was when I arrived was softcore stuff! What a disappointment. My friend tells me the hentai didn't start until after 12:00am, some good that does me, I wouldn't be caught dead after nightfall near all those cosplayers...

 

 

Level 30, Wow! I'd like to thank God, my Mom, all the n00bs I've pWned over teh years, but most of all, I'd like to thank myself for being so L33T...


The Breakfast of Champions! (no, that's not me on the box. When you're as L33t as me, you have to keep your true identity a secret).

There are ton of damn classics I either missed or were too stupid and young to buy (let me rephrase that, "get my parents to buy") back in the day and Virtual Console is a chance for people such as myself to finally own those great games we missed. So here are the games that I do not own, but had fond childhood memories of playing, (through renting or friends) that I'd like to see on VC:

NES:

Final Fantasy
Ice Climber
Kirby's Adventure

SNES:

Super Mario RPG
Earthbound
StarFox
Harvest Moon
Clay Fighter
Kirby's Dream Land 3

Genesis:

Micheal Jackson's Moonwalker
Sonic 3
Sonic and Knuckles


N64:

F-Zero X
Zelda: Majora's Mask
Paper Mario
Harvest Moon 64
Donkey Kong 64
Mario Tennis
Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon
Mystical Ninja 2
Battle Tanx
BomberMan 64
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
Pokemon Snap
Yoshi's Story

Games I'd pay to buy again and why:

-Dragon Warrior (NES. Battery on my original is dead:().
-Chrono Trigger (SNES. The PS1 version I own has annoying load times).
-Super Smash Bros. (N64. I'd love to play it without whipping out the old 64 all the time).

Those are the games I'd like to see come to VC. Sorry about the lack of TubroGraphx-16 games but I never really played it at all back in the day. I'd also like to see third parties bring their games from other non-Nintendo systems, why can't I download Final Fantasy IX and Chrono Cross, Square? Anyway, that being said, what VC games do you all want?


My MOST wanted VC game....

Read Kotaku's misinformed response first: LINK

I respect the Pope and what he says, but Benedict XVII seems like he says things without thinking too much about how people may interpret them. Unlike John Paul II, Benedict seems to run his mouth without thinking things though. Nevertheless, the Pope has a good point that people are missing. Everybody is taking this as "animated film and video games are perverted." That is NOT what the Pope said.

The Pope said that any medium, even animated film and video-games (which have both historical been for children), that exalt violence and trivialize sexuality are indeed perverted. Who among you would argue that hentai is not perverted? It is perverted. Who would argue that Death Race, a game in which you were given points for running over pedestrians, is not perverted? It is perverted. Gamers who will defend any game against scrutiny simply because it's a game do the industry a huge disservice.

A lot of neat stuff is going to happen this year, especially for gaming. Here's some the cool crap I'm excited for, game and non-game alike.

-Super Smash Bros Brawl
-Halo 3
-Mass Effect
-BioShock
-WarioWare Smooth Moves
-Mario Galaxy
-Pokemon Diamond
-Lair
-Spore
-Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
-Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Movie.
-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Book.
-Pirates of the Caribbean 3
-Paris Hiltion getting shot (at least I hope this happens).
-New HDTV.

DAMN!! I'm having a nerdgasm just thinking about it:D


Master Chief gazes into the future, and what he sees is breath taking.

Wow, I've finally made it to level 29, and with it has come a disturbing realization that I spent way too much time here. I haven't seen much people at this level so I assume I've  become too powerful for my own good.

I know each rank relates to a certain game so I did my research and Radiant SilverGun comes from...uh...Radiant SilverGun, a Sega Saturn game I've never heard of. Apparently, the game was never released outside of Japan.

Anyway, with a higher level comes more 1337 responsibilities, which means more n00bs to pWn, fanboys to snuff out of existence, and all the other things us Level 29s do. In conclusion, I leave you with the box art for Radiant SilverGun.

 

Merry Christmas, n00bs:P!

I hope all you guys had a great holiday season and got a lot of games and game related gifts this year. I got pretty good haul this year. If you look at my XBL gamertag you'll see that the Gears of War Collector's Edition was part of the said haul. I Broke the Christmas rule and opened my copy of GOW two days early. I'm not very far and I have a few minor problems with the game, but overall, it seems to be as good as everyone says it is. I'll have a more in depth first impression up later followed by a full review after that.

Here's most of the Christmas gifts I received from friends and family (I usually get more after christmas, from my cheaper family members who refuse to buy any gifts until Boxing Day...:roll: )

-Psychonauts.

-Soul Blade (a little confession, I bought Soul Blade for myself. Does anyone else buy themselves gifts or am I just psycho? I bought a copy for a friend too).

-Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest 2-disc edition.

-3 sweaters

- $ 100 dollars worth of money which I will probably spend on more games and my other love, books.

- and of course, Gears of War Collector's Edition.

So what did you guys get?


Staring at this while Silent Night plays in the background is the scariest **** ever. Try it.

"A lot of things are riding on the success of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, the launch of the Wii, the legacy of one of the greatest game franchises of all time, and the case for Wiimote controls in “hardcore” games. Twilight Princess has arrived and let's nobody down. It is the best Zelda ever made. The only aspects that keep it back from a perfect 10 are slightly dated visuals and audio quality. Aside from those insignificant issues, this is one of the best games ever made. "

Read the full thing here.

BTW: For some reason I can't spilt my review into paragraphs so I'm really sorry for the "block of text."

THESE ARE NOT FULL REVIEWS, JUST FIRST IMPRESSIONS.

Elite Beat Agents (DS):

Freeze, n00bs!!!

A fun and and engaging rhythm game that's easy to get into but difficult to beat. A lot of variety in the music, but some songs suck, for example, Material Girl...and I say that because Madonna is a ugly whore. Multi-player is fun but not fair, you could be pWning your opponent for the entire game but one slip up near the end and you'll probably lose. All in all, Elite Beat is a fun game that no DS owner should miss.

I'm currently on the last level on normal difficulty.
My Score so far: 8.8/10

Okami (PS2):

The best looking game ever, worthy of the Zelda comparisons.

Okami was hyped by some as a "Zelda Killer," I'm playing it right now and I can safely say that Zelda is still alive and well. That being said, Okami did beat a certain Zelda game at something. This game makes Wind Waker look like a cheap Saturday morning cartoon, I'd even go as far as to say it is the best looking game of the last generation. You'll boot up Okami just to look at it.

The gameplay is very much like Zelda's dungeon crawling experience and while it doesn't beat that legendary series at it's own game it is by far the BEST emulation of the Zelda formula to date. The brush techniques are great and the Japanese mythology is very interesting and immersive.

If you own a PS2, go out, do yourself a HUGE favor and buy Okami, it is the best game ever to grace that console. After playing Okami it's sad to hear that Clover, the studio responsible for this masterpiece, is no more. so in conclusion, BUY OKAMI NOW BECAUSE THERE WILL NEVER BE A SEQUEL OR ANOTHER GAME BY CLOVER EVER AGAIN!!!

I'm 10 hours into the game.
My score so far: 9.7/10

(And no that's not me in the pic....)