A Truffled Christmas

Happy Holidays everyone. First three pages of my comic are up and posted, I'll be updating my blog now with a new page every day up until the 25th excluding the weekend.

So far, very fun project... very time consuming yet fun project.

Enjoy!

Feeling Festive

I was feeling extra festive today.

Hopefully this mood will stay for a special project I have in the pipeline geared up for this week. Here's a teaser.

Build Up

Apple's taking their sweet time on the Turn Around for my computer, which was sent in for repairs about a week ago, meaning the best I've had to offer in terms of blog posts have been grossly imageless thus the lack of posts and the delay in my Metroid: Other M review.

There's a backlog of posts you should look forward to, to give you a teaser I share with you this startling information: All New Pokemon from Pokemon Black & White Revealed

I have my own viewpoints on the designs and overall direction the series has taken, especially in Pokemon Design, that I'll end up sharing with you in a future segment.

Also in the coming weeks I'll share my opinion on the California vs. The Video Game Industry case, the topic of why games are still the target of media scapegoating, and how the most hardened of gaming fans may be holding ourselves back.

All this and more once Apple finishes fixing my computer.

Metroid: Other M (Pre-Review)

I racked my brain all day today trying to figure out if I should buy the game or spring for my long overdue fling with Super Mario Galaxy 2; though somehow I know I'd end up with the former. I'm a long time fan of the Sci-Fi genre, which ranks Nintendo's flagship Sci-Fi titles, Metroid and Starfox, as two of my favorite game series.

That's not to say it wasn't a hard decision to make, the reviews for Metroid: Other M are all over the board! It's got a bad case of bilocation and generally floats between a solid 8.5 and a measly 6.5. On the other hand, SMG2 has seemingly got perfect scores all across the board, it was definitely the safer choice.


I think that was the deciding factor in my decision though, the fact that I knew what to expect in SMG2, while M:OM remained a shiny new mystery. I'm not without my preconceptions though, seeing as reviews have been out for a solid week now I figure I'd compare what I've been told to what I actually experience. Thusly, welcome to the Pre-Review of Metroid: Other M; where we will look in to exactly what this game is promising me.

My Video Game Reviews are broken down in to 4 parts; The three main points: Concept, Gameplay, and Visual Design. Plus two additional Categories for Story & Character and Audio & Score. I also look into, if any, the advertising for the game.

Concept: A Back-to-Roots Metroid game.


No one can deny how awesome the Metroid Series; since it's debut on the NES it's taken the hearts of gamers with the lust for adventure and exploration. It gave us a Strong Female lead Character in a sea of Burly Men and really captured the alone on alien world feel. It's been lovingly continued and evolved over the years, still making us feel like we're on that planet with Samus Aran; the main character of the game.

Sounds like a new addition to the series would be a godsend, right?


Keep in mind, this is a Back-to-Roots title, meaning it has as much to do with what made the original game great as a salad doused in Salad dressing and sprinkled with bacon bits has to a Healthy lunch.

Back-to-Roots titles usually have one fatal flaw; a misinterpretation in to what made the games great. This is the games biggest strength and it's crippling weakness. Wether it be the wrong fans working on it or trying to copy too much from the source material, something is always missing that tied the whole package together. Metroid: Other M is no different.

The first title of the series, Metroid, and the best title in the series, Super Metroid, had a lot in common. A little bit of prologue, a mission, a mass of alien hostiles, and you. It painted a very lonely world for you and Samus with the only other friendlies barely mentioned once in the opening dialogue. M:OM on the other hand, has a reported 2 hours worth of cutscenes and there's the occasional teamup with a troop of Galactic Federation Solders, including a general that stands in as an old friend of Samus's and a useful excuse for not being able to use all your power-ups from the get-go.

It's been said that the stretches of time between cutscenes and team-ups recapture the lone atmosphere of the previous titles, but wether or not it'll be enough is something I need to play the game to find out.

And wether or not this departure from the conventional Metroid framework will pass as the perfect concept is also up in the air. This Questionable Departure may be M:OM's biggest selling factor if not just for the curiosity of those who grew up with the series; it may also be the biggest deterrent.

Concept: 5/10; It's the games best selling point and biggest deterrent.

Gameplay: Smooth as silk with the occasional kink.


If there's anything that's been talked about more then the story of M:OM, it's Team Ninja's combat system. The game runs primarily in a Sidescrolling/3rd Person Mechanic that departs from the series more recent FPS outings. My thoughts on this are both good and bad; allow me to elaborate.

I"ve played the three FPS games; The game did a fantastic job of putting you into the vast worlds Samus was exploring. At the time this itself was it's own tangent from the classic Metroid titles, all sidescrolling, yet it added to the atmosphere of the game. Seeing the world through Samus's eyes made the lonely traveller's world full of monsters feel vast and empty; more so then the 2D games ever could. It added to both the puzzle and exploration of the game making them the core features of this once action dominant franchise. Now we're back to thirdperson and I'm expecting this focus on discovery and puzzling to be replaced with this linier, action-oriented flow. Team Ninja is famous for both the Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive game series, the former which has been toted as one of the hardest action-game series of all time, right behind Ghosts n' Goblins and Battletoads.


This is leading me to believe that my once loved mechanic of exploring alien worlds has been replaced with fancy acrobatics antagonist swarms of substandard, yet insanely difficult enemies and I make my way to a small room where the next path is conveniently highlighted for me to save time.

But it's in this last statement we come to the second, and more controversial gameplay mechanic; the Third Person view. By simply pointing your Wiimote at the screen, waiting a couple of second for the Wii to register your shift on controls while you get swarms by baddies, and them waiving your cursor around the screen awkwardly until you manage to orient yourself, you get to use a First Person viewpoint just in time to blast the hostiles before they finish off your last bit of health. Well ok, in theory you should just be able to point at the screen and instantly your in third person view, which is used to both shoot missiles, target specific points or enemies, or scan for important plot devices. Perhaps this awkward instead of intuitive experience is due mostly to location, yet that doesn't help that according to reviews the First Person controls pale in comparison to the one used in the Metroid Prime series.

Gameplay: 8/10; The smooth combat and third person sidescrolling is a welcome return, but it's not without it's flaws and major affects to what the series has based it's core values on.

Visual Design: Suffering from a early 2000's idea of graphics.


Nowadays, the real-time graphics of a game are so close to the Pre-rendered scenes that it's almost hard to tell the different of there is any. This is not true for the early 2000's style of graphics. The consoles of the 2000s were powerful enough to give us beautifully pre-rendered scenes that only greatly paled to the stuff being pumped out by animation and visual effects studios. Still, the studios making these cutscenes went all out, pushing the limits of what the console could do... the realtime graphics, not so much. The added processor power required for the ever updating worlds that had to respond to player input meant the gameplay graphics paled in comparison to the pre-rendered masterpiece we saw not 2 minutes ago before the game's opening tile screen. It was really misleading, buy we let it slide since they looked so darn good.

According to review, this is what I should expect from M:OM; beautifully rendered cutscenes and a slightly less glorious, yet still impressive, realtime graphics. Textures are said to be low on the resolution front and character models are said to be the standard fair for Team Ninja titles. The men may look like a novice's clay sculpture, but I guess I always have the trademark Team Ninja women to look forward to. Luckily, it seems they gave Samus her shots before sending her over to Team Ninja, she's mostly unaffected; Though it must suck using the visor with that hair in her face.


The game's not trying to be Metroid Prime 3 though, it's goal is to be a faster and more action packed game. The visual design of the game does succeed in this. A simpler color scheme usually signifies a faster scene, the more colors and detail you fit the longer the scene seems to play out. M:OM is a fast game and the design of the characters and color schemes really help to emphasis this; at least that's what I have gathered from movies and screenshots.

I can't say much from creature design at this stage, I've seen a total of 5 creatures, all fairly unamazing, but I'm hoping the game hold more surprises for me.


Visual Design: 8/10; It's touted as one of the best looking Wii games, though wether that's only because of the Pre-Rendered scenes has yet to be seen. Excellent choice in color though.

Story & Character: All of Samus's past packed into a Bottle.


Samus is a loner with a mysterious past never before mentioned in the games aside the occasional cryptic mention of the Chozo, an advanced alien race who raised Samus as a child when her homeworld was destroyed my the Space Pirate, the main antagonists of the game. That's the majority of the backstory of the Metroid games that players knew before Metroid Prime 3 opened up her past with the Galactic federation more. Now that the egg's been cracked, it's time to split it open; that's where M:OM comes in.

No need to worry about spoilers by the way, I don't even know the story yet.

What I do know though is that the Story picks up after the events of Super Metroid. Samus meets up with a trop of Galactic Federation Solders on board an abandoned ship called "The Bottle Ship," after both parties responded to a distress call. While the Bottle Ship evokes all environments familier to Metroid players (Fire, Ice, Swamp, Etc.), it doesn't have quite the same feel as a planet. The troop is lead by Samus's old commander and friend, Adam Malkovich; who also doubles as a convenient excuse to limit Samus's powers in the beginning f the game by ordering you to not use them until he gives you permission to.


The whole story of the game is said to span a whole 2 hours worth of cut scenes, which can later be viewed in one sitting like a movie. This is a surprise to everyone since the Metroid series story has been mostly coated in mystery up until now. Even her voice, which has never been heard in a Metroid title, is heard for the first time narrating portions of the story.

There's a dark cloud to this as those whom have played reported the story being very generic as it follows Samus's sappy side, weakening the hardened warrior we knew her to be. Wether or not these players missed the point of those scenes is yet to be known, we'll find out when I write my actual review.

I can't say much more about the story and supporting characters until I play the game, but needless to say; This is one Metroid fan who simply can't wait to hear this story. I'm always up for a Sci-Fi, even if it's generic and filled with cliches.

Story & Character: 9/10; It's always exciting to learn more about a character, makes them more human. Wether it destroys or strengthens her though I can't say. All I can say is I have high hopes.

Audio & Score: I've heard it's Orchestrated.

Nintendo's really had a thing with orchestrated music lately haven't they? Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have it any other way. I love the quality of work that goes in to the musical scores of these games, and that's all I can really say for the Score at this time.

Audio & Score: 10/10; I haven't heard it yet, but if it's anything like previous orchestrated titles it's going to be epic.

Advertisements: Live Action? Awesome!

Usually the only way to see a live action Samus was to catch one at Comic-Con. Well not anymore, as a Live Action Samus struts across her memories in the official trailer for Metroid: Other M.



Personally, I think this is a nice touch. Though I'm usually more of an animation fan I think this style did wonders to show the dark lonely atmosphere of Samus's character defining moments.

Overall Score:

Concept: 5/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Visual Design: 8/10
Story & Character: 4.5/5
Audio & Score: 5/5

Final Score: 7.5/10; Not Perfect, but there's plenty there to make it all worth it.

This game has a lot to live up to; find out if it meets my expectations when I write my final review. See you then.

Sonic & Knuckles: Mushroom Hill Zone REMASTERED

It's fair to say this has become a clear case of Student surpassing the Master. Except in this senario the Master is Sonic Team and the Student are it's fans.

The way I see it, there are four classes of Sonic Fan (Platformer Fan, Racing Fan, Series Fan, and New Fan) and the above video, made by Youtubber BlobVanDam, caters to all four of them.

Platformer Fans are those of us who loved the quick and fluid platforming aspects of the original games, something that has been missing from the current generation Sonic titles yet is in full presentation here; I'm not sure where Sonic Team went wrong on this aspect. Platforming always played a huge role in the original titles, it was probably the only thing keeping everyone from "holding-right-to-win." Though that wouldn't of stopped the Speed Fans

Speed Fans are the players of the older titles that couldn't rest until we beat the clock to the ground. We'd play a level hundreds of times to find the quickest path, which has become easier in modern days because that's all the Sonic games feature now. One of the crutches of this has always been the way the screen moves to match, sometimes it can barely keep up with us. Which is what I like about the above video, it doesn't do that. The older games were slower then their modern day counterparts, but like this video shows; so long as you have nice and smooth motion blurs you don't need to go crazy with the speed.

And I'm not going to say Speeders ruined it for the Platformers, but I would really like to go back to when I didn't have to finish a level by Trial and Error.

Series Fans are fans that weren't pulled by the games as much as they were the concept, usually meaning they'd be fans of the Cartoons as well. For them all I can say is that if this was to happen, if this was a real game, Series Fans would have a reason to celebrate. Sonic has been needing an A+ title for some time now; While graphics are no guarantee of a good game, I think just the fact that this proposed game retains everything that made Sonic & Knuckles good plus a shiny new paint job makes it a title worth playing.

Which leaves us with New Fans, who probably wouldn't be as excited as the older generation but would still exert an audible aww at the glorious, pre-rendered graphics in the above video. It almost makes Sonic 4 look like the Fan Project in comparison.

Personally I'd love to see a nice Hand-Drawn Sonic 2D title in the future, same vein as the tragically underrated Wario Land: Shake It, with proper platforming integrated with a more manageable speed so I'm not careening down a bottomless pit every half second. It's like a game of Dragons Lair at 300mph, there's no hope of winning on your first go. Would be even worse if the lives system was still as important as it was back in the day, but that's a different subject all together.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One last note, if I may, as a plea to all Sonic fans like myself; please choose your words carefully when Sonic Team is listening, I want to play as other characters besides Sonic. I know the complaints; A new ancillary character every year gets old without an interesting personality to go with it and Giant Mechs schlepping across floating platforms is not what we want from a Sonic game, nor is diverging too far and too staggeringly away from the core gameplay. The last thing you want to do, fans, is to blame the characters themselves and spout "I just want to play as Sonic and Sonic alone."

One of the best things about the old titles was that after one play through as Sonic I could revisit all the levels as Tails or Knuckles, each with their own unique method of transversing the stage. This is what we want! That and likable characters and interesting plots, but I think that's a given in any storytelling medium. Haven't seen much of that though since Sonic Heros.

Scott Pilgrim vs. My Expectations

I've got to say, when I first saw the Scott Pilgrim books there was something that kept me away and at the same time attracted my eye; It's hard to explain. Then I heard about the Movie and the plot, it was still not enough to get me to check it out. Then I heard the buzz around it in Video Game Land... and I looked in to it. After the trailer, I got interested in the book, after issue one I was hooked.

Before I get too far in to this, I'd like to start by saying you should all go see the movie. The box office is too content with blockbuster popcorn flicks like The Expendables that movies like Scott Pilgrim vs The World are getting glazed over. So everyone make it a point to go see Scott Pilgrim in theaters; I'll try to keep this review as spoiler free as possible.

Scott Pilgrim is a book series turned movie by Bryan Lee O'Malley that centers around the romantic trials of title character Scott Pilgrim. Scott represents one of the more positive examples of the indie culture; The Slacker in a Garage Band. He's confident, lazy, and aside from a lax sensibility towards relationships is always able to charm a girl into liking him. I don't know what it is about us artists, but we always seem to write this type of quirky yet charming character at some point in our life. The difference here is that while most writers tend to force the two characters together, the writing in Scott Pilgrim manages to make it all seem natural. Scott really is a charming individual and doesn't just get by on quirkiness, this ties in well with the fact that he's also a jerk; seems to me like the two go hand in hand in real life.

Our other Main Character, Ramona Flowers, turns our to be the one girl who completely changes Scott and how he deals with his life. Ramona herself is a really complicated character until the end of the series, very secretive about key parts of her past; especially when it comes to her exes whom all seem to hold a grudge against her for reasons she's not ready to admit until late in the story. It's this mysterious nature that captures Scott's interest; he pretty much falls for her the moment she starts using his dreams as a Hyperspace shortcut to make deliveries.

...

Confused yet? If there's anyone I wouldn't suggest this movie to it would be those without hands on the pulse of the modern world. If you still can't work a cell phone and Pac-Man still perplexes you then this movie will be a solid 2 hours of "What on earth is going on?!" For the rest of us, almost every moment is a callback to some aspect of our younger years playing video games and listening to rock music; using the aesthetics and laws of retro style games to contextualize the rocky road of a relationship far better then your standard romance movie could. See, Ramona's past involved her being a bit of a bitch to her former lovers; In a fit of rage her most recent ex assembles 6 of the broken hearts she's left in her wake in a vain attempt to control her future love life. Once they get wind of Scott's interest in her they start coming after him one at a time in a tournament fashion akin to Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. As long as Scott dates Ramona they'll be after his head, which only proves to be a motivator for Scott and fixes his assurance that if he's willing to fight for this girl, then she is most assuredly the one.

This series is simply ripe with lovable characters and great humor. While the feel of the movie is catering to the heart of indie culture and trying to explain the plot in a single sentence makes it sound like an after school Nickelodeon special; The series pants a more realistic word just in the way characters react to their emotions and environment then Avatar could with their multimillion doller equipment. It's a key trait that really separates movies like The Expendables, a movie destined to fade away in to obscurity in time, from a movie like Scott Pilgrim vs The World, which is sure to become a cult classic. Scott Pilgrim vs The World is not only a great example of fantastic character writing, which is expanded upon in the Graphic Novel original, but it's also a great example of how Movie Interpretations should be done; Which is funny, because usually when people change the ending, even partially, people start fuming. Not the case here, even though a couple key aspects were dropped or changed the movie and the ending still felt like the same story.

Nothing's perfect though; If you want to get the full Scott Pilgrim experience you really need to check out the books. There are 6 volumes in print, each one containing one evil ex battle and chapters and chapters of character development not easily squashed into one 2hr movie. In turn, the movie feels very rushed and some of the characters are grazed over to leave time for Scott, Ramona, and a few of the Ancillary characters. This goes the same for a couple of the evil exes who's histories with Ramona are outright ignored to save on time.

So while not the perfect movie, it's more worth a view then the blockbuster 3D films out there. The effects and writing makes it all worth the time.

Needless to say, Scott Pilgrim will take what ever your Expectations are and turn them in to a pile of coins; maybe even an extra life if you score high enough.

All Images are pulled from the Scott Pilgrim Graphic Novels published by Oni Press.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One last note, to make a comment about the Video Game tie in; I've haven't played it yet, but that's because it's only available on PSN and XBOX Arcade. While I'm willing to shell out $10 for the game... I'm not as willing to spend $200 - $300+.

To the developers of the game, please release this for the PC via download or Steam. If you do, I'd be eternally grateful.

Long Line of Events Preceding

It's been an interesting string of events this past month; My Tablet failed on me and then came back to life, I attended the Star Wars Celebration V (pictured above), my old phone up and died on me (right before the convention) and so I had it replaced; it's hard to tell if things are looking up or down for me at this moment. Past week's been shining well on me and the weekend ahead doesn't show signs of getting any less adventurous; after a month or two in Florida I'm taking the drive up North back to NJ to decide wether or not I'm able to sign up for a Masters Degree course or if securing a job is more important at the moment. Big decision, I've done it once before when going for my Bachelors. No offense working world but I think I'd rather enjoy the classroom for another year.

Ever hear of Con-Drop? It's the unnerving feeling of wanting to be extra social you get after attending a convention. Symptoms include: Going to more social events then can fit in your schedule, a vested interest in conventions you normally wouldn't be interested in (Car Show? Really? Might be fun!), and more hours clocked on Twitter and Facebook searching for new friends you met at the con. It's a real ailment that effects many on-occasion con goers; I had it, that whole week following the convention. There's no way around it, the best course of action is to just attend local events and hold firm your wallet. No Car Show for me thank you.

Shouldn't be completely ignored though; This increase in social behaviors results in an increase of mood and motivation. Talk to anyone on a Con-Drop and you'll realize that not only are they up for anything, but they'll be more then happy to do it. They are some of the greatest people to hang around with.

Speaking of motivation, I'm practically Brimming with it. Con-Drop plus a new 3G phone means more content to share; so I say, time to start on the right foot this time with the blog. Hope all you reading will stick with me on this, it's going to be a fun ride.

Shock (or lack there of)

My Tablet, or at least it's USB Plug, has crapped out on me. It really does come as a shock, I wasn't expecting it. Although it timing was amazing... amazingly ironic, seeing how I was just ready to start drawing some comics for this week.

Wether or not I'll be able to get it fixed or replaced soon is really up in the air right now.

I Dream of Flight

There are just some days I can't find the time to draw anywhere other then my sketchbook. When that happens, Photography is always there.

It's Relaxing to say the least.

I'm still hard pressed to find internet anywhere but a local Panera. And with less computer time it means less time on the computer and more out and about with my sketch book. The weather has been nice enough for it, and by nice I mean 100 degrees in the shade.

If that sounds fun then I suggest you move back to the fiery core of the earth you demon spawn.

We apologize for you Inconvenience...

I'm sitting here posting this from a local Panera Bread. While there's noting like getting out and about, the fact that there is a lack of free internet at the hotel I'm staying at is troubling.

Florida's great, especially if you're vacationing down here with a family who's awesome. When I'm looking forward to a week of guilt free gaming and late night updates however, just to find out that I'd be charged up the ass for internet in my room... it just soils it.

Cupcake

You know what I like? Cupcakes. They're delicious, moist, coated in sweet frosting. Mmmm, so good.

The only time you wish for Winter.

This heat getting to anyone else? It's times like this that you wish for the cold embrace of Winter to wash over you making you with it was Summer.

Can we all just agree that fall is the best month? Anyway, stay cool everyone. Here's a hartwarming image to keep you feeling chill.

Daily Sketch 07/05/10: Your Smugleaf has Evolved into...

P. Smuggy.

Tsutaja has taken the internet world by storm. The Meme "Smugleaf" is about as well known as the unwarranted hatred of Water Pokemon Mijumaru. Despite the hatred most people harbor towards these new Pokemon (I don't know, I kind of like them), it's been said that one should not pass judgment on the Pokemon themselves without seeing their evolved form, which are usually awesome. A good friend of mine followed this train of thought and invented this smug little bleeper, who's attacks by nature would have to include Bullet Seed and Uproar.

"Art is for you and you alone. If others love it, if it causes a cultural boom, or if it changes the world... that's just a happy side effect."

~Adam Borno

Playing a lot of Pokemon lately.

I've been a Poke'-Fan since Red/Blue version, my first level 100 was my started Blastoise from Blue version. So in the past couple months the new remakes of Gold and Silver came out and I've gotta tell ya... I have not bought them yet.

Now I love the Pokemon games, Ironically the only other series I hadn't gotten one of the versions from was the Reb/Blue remakes. But this time around it's not really money or time keeping me from these games... its how I went about playing the last version to come out, Platinum. I took my time with it.

Every so often I'd pick it up and play, it was released a year or so ago and I just last week beat the elite four. What happened was I didn't rush through it, half the time was spent leveling my Pokemon, switching them out for a bit and leveling new ones to the point were I'd have to move along in the story just because I was filling only 5% or my Exp. bar after each battle. It's was a weird way to play, I've never played a Pokemon game that way before, but it makes it last so much longer then the few months the games normally last.

Then again, the releases of the new Pokemon did help revitalize it a bit, and I've been playing it more this past week while my computer was undergoing sort and filing. Trading a few Pokemon up from my Pearl Version to my Platinum like Mismagius here.

Service Droids are always watching.

Computer began bugging out so I paused all digital works while I did some organizing and clean installs. Also gave me time to do some sketches on paper, something I've been neglecting for some time now. Understand this if you may, but this may be helping me understand how I should be using my Tablet. Call me crazy, but I'm bettering my understanding of technology by doing it the old fashion way...

Guess those Fortune cookie sayings were right... meaning this isn't a revelation... just common knowledge. Funny how one thought can have so many applications yet the ones that matter most are the ones you do so often you forget to think about them.

Anyway, service droids. Prototype name O.C.D. Droids 1 and 2. Optical Control Director Droids. They are here to service you on your long voyages until they eventually become evil as robots with AI tend to do and murders you all.

Except that won't happen here.

Not at all.

Nintendo Announces 5th DS Handheld. Two more to go before it matches the Gameboy.

First it was the DS, then the DS Lite, then the DSi took the stage, and finally the DSi XL. With seemingly every new addition adding something small to the console where does the company go from there? They go where everyone has been going, into the Third Dimension.

Nintendo recently, but not formally, announced it's new 3DS Handheld; A full 3D handheld with no need for obnoxious glasses. How it's going to do this is unknown right now, but two possibilities exist. One would be motion tracking using the camera or accelerometers. The 3DS could display an image based on where the player is looking and the tilt of the console itself. The second way that has been speculated by reviewers is something called a paralax barrier LCD screen, the kind Sharp uses in it's 3D displays.

Until the next E3, it's all speculation. And while we're speculating why don't we consider what could be next for Nintendo's hottest handheld?

Let's first look at the clues. Back in the days of the NES Nintendo launched the Power Glove, and it's Bad. No really, it was pretty bad. I was along the same line as Nintendo's R.O.B. Robot and it's failed experiment, the Virtual Boy. So, now it's the 2005 and the Wii is released. Using motion tracking it allowed you to control the action by waving, pointing, and manipulating a remote instead of pushing buttons. This is exactly what they were trying to accomplish with the Power Glove all those years ago, 5 years later it's still the highest selling console. Success! So what's next? A 3D Console? Boy, that sounds just like their Virtual Boy (you know, except less Red). And if the 3DS is as successful as it's predecessor (the other DSs not the Virtual Boy) then it's only safe to assume Nintendo's next big console will be...

... A Fully Interactive Robot!

Multiplayer games will take on whole new meanings when the computer player can physically beat the tar out of you when you decide to use them as a springboard to cross a gap or take both Mushrooms when all you really needed was one.

The 3DS is also the 5th handheld in the DS line. So far there has been the DS, DS Lite, DSi, DSi XL, and now the 3DS. In Nintendo's lineup of Gameboy handhelds there were 7: The Gameboy (including it's "Play it Loud" campaign), Gameboy Pocket, Gameboy Light (Only released in Japan, it was a backlit GBP), Gameboy Color, Gameboy Advance, Gameboy Advance SP (including it's Mark II edition), and finally ending with the Gameboy Micro. The only difference in the consoles is the 3 variations of cartridges, so far we've had only one type of cartridge for the DS (2 if you count ones with DSi support). If so, then we'll be getting the third kind when the 3DS is launched, being coined as a new console with backwards compatibility (hopefully that also means older GBA and GB games, which would automatically make give it the largest library of any console).

As I recall, the DS was announced and launched before the Gameboy Micro. Wether or not we can then assume Nintendo will wow us with an all new Handheld Console in the next couple of years is anyone's guess. Also, the 3DS is mearly a temporary name, as it stands it may in fact be the next new handheld completely different then the DS. We can only wait and see.

You better be working on that Robot though, Nintendo.

Nintendo Announces New Hardware, The Nintendo 3DS [Kotaku]

It's important to keep up to date.

The internet is a tricky place, no one will ever read that heartfelt update you spent hours writing if it's the only thing you've posted in months.

Roadtrip!

On a Roadtrip with my Older Brother. From New York to LA. So far we've seen 10 strange billboards, 2 creepy landmarks, and One idiot with a corvette who doesn't want to bother to turn off his car while refueling at a gas station.

2010

Ahh, Twenty-Ten. I have a good feeling about this year. Who knows what the future will hold but I'll tell you what; We won't be able to believe it at first. Think back to how fast we've advanced in the past 2o, even 10 years... and we're still chugging. Here's to a Happy New Year!

Last Month was Pokemon Avatar Month on Facebook. Who spearheaded this? I don't know, but I joined in anyway. And that was that and now I need to find a new image for my profile.

Ok so Resolutions; 2010's going to be a big year. From here on I want to accomplish the following goals. For starters, expect to see more realism from me in forms of life drawings. This coupled with more Illustrations, freed from any filters that impeded me in the past. Also I'm looking forward to better writing in the coming months. The rest are standard fare, like weight loss and more of a social life. So give us your best 2010.

Looking forward for a great year.