This blog is dead.

Yep, when I created Stupid Gamer, I figured I'd keep both blogs up, but I haven't. If you find yourself here and you want something more current, head over to my current blog, http://stupidgamer.com.

I'm also working on some new projects that will come out in the near future, but I'm not ready to announce anything.

Setting up a Play-Asia Affiliation

In the spirit of money making, I'll be setting up a Play-Asia affiliate account and getting a link posted. If you are into imports, this is a great place to buy from, so check out what they have to offer. The search box below will allow you to search Play-Asia directly from this post, I'll get a permanent one added to the blog at the bottom soon.

The DSA Podcast is coming

Today I recorded the pilot episode for the DS Advanced podcast. It will (obviously) focus on DS hardware and software news, but it will often veer off to cover wider topics. The first run was a bit rough, but I think I'll be able to get the hang of it real soon.

If anybody out there is interested in subscribing to the line of AMN podcasts, click here.

Happy 4th of July!

Bowser, Tami, and I wanted to wish everybody a happy 4th of July! We'll be celebrating with a BBQ with the family and lighting fireworks a bit later. Here are a couple of pics of Bowser ready to celebrate:

Back Playin' Black

Ninja Gaiden Black is undoubtedly one of the finest action games ever created. Sure, it has some downfalls, such as screwy platforming elements and some cheap attacks, but for the most part it's pure action gaming goodness. I've been playing it again on my 360 (it's not that badly supported) and I realized that this game plays, looks, and feels better than 90% of what is currently being considered "next-gen."





The game is a true example of what a developer can achieve if they are willing to take some pride in their work and take the time necessary to fully take advantage of a system's hardware. I really can't wait to see how Ninja Gaiden 2 turns out, I just wish they'd put crap like DOAX 2 on the backburner for a while to get NG2 out first.

Does everybody remember how when the initial screenshots were released that many people were claiming that the screens were doctored or not real-time? I couldn't believe how beautiful the game was the first time I fired it up (original Ninja Gaiden, and later Black) on my Xbox. I was even more surprised to see how well it held a high framerate.





For anybody that's been hesitant to give this game a go on the 360, it's fully playable and still really fun. During this release drought, and boy is it going to be a long one, there isn't really anything better to play if you haven't experienced this game. Summer is a great time to tackle your backlog or revisit old favorites, make sure to include Ninja Gaiden Black in your lists.

It's easier to put a DS Lite into your pocket than a turkey sandwich!

In my latest special for DS Advanced, I took Nintendo's popular handheld system, the DS Lite, and compared its thickness to many common objects. The story plays out like a gameshow where you can post your score at the end. There is one little bonus item, however. On the 3rd page of the article, there is a video that compares how much easier it is to put a DS Lite into your pocket than a turkey sandwich. Go, see the results!

Click the image to read the story:

World Cup Fever

Even though the United States came out flat in their first World Cup match against the Czech Republic, I still have the World Cup Fever. I can't help but to track each game online or watch every minute when I'm home. So far it's been a great start and it should make for a fantastic tournament. There seems to be a lot of great teams this year, so Brazil won't have it quite as easy as some people are expecting.

The United States is taking on Italy this Saturday and it should be a great match. I fully expect the US to come out with a chip on their shoulder. Italy is a really good team, but I have a feeling that the US is just a bit more desperate and hungry. Hopefully that translates to a win.

Boycott Blockbuster!

For all two of you that read my blog, it's time that we all join in and boycott Blockbuster. Since I've been pretty weary of Xbox 360 releases, I decided to rent a couple of games before taking the $60 plunge. I dropped by Hollywood Video, my normal rental store of choice, but they had been really picked over and I wasn't about to rent Amped 3, the only thing still on the shelf.

I decided to drop by Blockbuster, a store I already pretty much despise, to see if I'd have any better luck there. Well, to my surprise their shelves were fully stocked, so I picked a couple of games out. When I got up to pay the two games came out to be $17.50 to rent. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? It costs $8.75 to rent a single game? I asked the guy behind the counter why the price was so high and he just shrugged his shoulders and said that's the new thing.

Well enough of that crap. I'm done with Blockbuster forever. I refuse to pay 1/5 the price of a game only to have it for 5 days. To make things worse, it's due back before noon on the due date. Who in the world can get to a Blockbuster Video before noon? Don't they realize that people work? What happened to the late PM return time? Basically it's a ploy to get people trapped into late fees. Either you drop it off the day before, take an early lunch, or you get stuck paying the late fee because you have a life. It's a dirty tactic to reap another couple of dollars per rental...simply ridiculous.

So, don't go to Blockbuster. Go anywhere else. Hollywood Video, Netflix, Gamefly, and local independent video stores are probably going to kill of Blockbuster in the end, let's help them speed up the process.

E3 was awesome!

E3 2006 has come and gone and it was a great experience. The Nintendo conference was a ton of fun with Super Mario Galaxy being the highlight of the entire show for me. Anyway, here are my E3 thoughts (pulled from an AMN article):

E3 2006 was a great time to be covering the Nintendo DS. I thought that last year was big for the handheld, but this year easily surpassed it in quality and quantity of titles on the floor. The DS lineup at E3 had every genre covered in both video and playable form and usually each genre sported several titles.

My personal favorites for the DS included: Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, Yoshi’s Island 2, Final Fantasy III, Mario Hoops 3-on-3, Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2, Contact, Lunar Knights, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Big Brain Academy, Starfox, Kirby, and Elite Beat Agents. Each one of these games are solid day-one purchases for me with a handful of others being strong candidates as well. Never have I seen a single system exhibit such a high amount of must-have software at E3. It was easy for me to claim that the Nintendo DS had the strongest showing at E3.


Konami's newest Castlevania looked (and played) incredible at E3 2006

Aside from the DS lineup, there was plenty to get excited about on all fronts at E3 this year. The Xbox 360 has some huge titles coming soon and a few of them looked great on the floor. Gears of War wasn’t playable, but it sure looked great. I was impressed with Mass Effect, BioShock, Lost Planet, and Rainbow Six: Vegas. The lineup going into the holiday season is really strong for the 360 and the future looks bright with Halo 3 somewhere on the distant horizon. After E3, my most anticipated Xbox 360 is definitely Lost Planet. Make sure to download the demo from Live Marketplace if you have a 360.

The PSP had a pretty good showing at E3, but it just didn’t grab me like some of the other systems did. I wouldn’t say that I was disappointed, but I only managed to get truly excited over a couple of demos. The Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins demo was easily my favorite that the PSP had to offer and it’s probably my most anticipated release on the PSP.

The PlayStation 2 proved it wasn’t dead with Final Fantasy XII, Okami, God of War 2, and Guitar Hero 2 all on the horizon. My personal favorite for the PlayStation 2 is Capcom’s Okami; the game is fine art fused with rockin’ gameplay.

Sony’s PlayStation 3 had a few highs and lows on the floor with Warhawk being my favorite demo. Many of the demos seemed to fall really short of the trailers we had seen previously while some titles shown last year in video form were absent from this year’s exhibition (see: Killzone). Overall the software on the PS3 just didn’t look like it was completely ready to be shown, but hopefully with the final development kits (shipping in June) things will be noticeably improved by November’s launch.

The Xbox and GameCube were pretty much worthless as far as stuff on the floor goes, but Super Paper Mario looks to be absolutely stunning as well as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

The most in demand item at E3 was Nintendo’s Wii, and for good reason. The line to get into Nintendo’s Wii demo area was insanely long, but it seemed to satisfy the majority of those that got a chance to play the demos, especially Super Mario Galaxy and Wii Sports. The Wii launch lineup looks like it’s going to be big and well-rounded. If most of the titles that were demoed at E3 make launch, I’m looking to pick up around 6 or 7 titles on day one, with my previous high being 4. The Wii also produced my personal favorite demo at E3, Super Mario Galaxy.

All in all it was a wonderful E3. I had a wonderful time with the demos, news bits, and working with the great guys here at AMN. I’d rather not get into anything that I disliked about E3 since the good outweighed anything bad by such a large margin (like getting Miyamoto’s autograph on my DS and meeting Satoru Iwata). Here’s looking forward to a great year of game releases and console launches!


How do you make a cool system cooler? Get Shigeru Miyamoto to sign it.
(NOT FOR SALE!)

AMN's Countdown to E3

For the past few days Advanced Media Network has been counting down the days to E3 with a new article each day. My article, found here deals with what an AMN staff member does to get ready for E3.

For a look at the list of countdown articles (updated daily), click here. There is also a countdown timer there as well to keep track of the remaining days, hours, minutes and seconds until the gaming industry's biggest event.

Saturday's Hike to Centerville Peak

It's pretty much perfect weather right now around here for getting out and hiking. It's still a little early in the year, so the mountains haven't totally greened up yet, and there is still quite a bit of snow around the peaks and in the deeper canyons, but it's a fair trade not to die of the heat. This past Saturday Tami and I got out with Bowser and hiked up a canyon that's about 5 miles from our house that lead to the top of Centerville Peak.

The whole hike took us about 4 hours, and we took some nice pictures along the way. By the time we got back both of us were a little bit sunburned, but nothing too bad. Bowser did great on the hike as well, but he was starting to slow down quite a bit towards the top and he was trying to lay down in the shade under a few trees along the trail.

While we were spending some time around the peak we found a nice little clearing with some trees and grass that would be perfect for camping. In a few more weeks it should be a bit more green up there, and camping overnight would be tons of fun. It's nice because you can get completely away from the city without having to go far at all.

When the snow melts a bit more we plan on hitting a few more trails around the area that are higher in elevation. Olympus peak is where we originally wanted to go, but it's still probably too early in the year to be able to make it to the top without having to deal with quite a bit of snow.

Here are a handful of the pictures we took on the trail and at the peak:

Bowser squinting in the bright sun


About 1/3 the way up


Bowser leading the way...



A view towards another peak



Tami checking out the view from the top

Probably one of the best commercials in a long time...

I recorded this using my digital camera, so the quality isn't all that great. However, you can hear it fine and the awesomeness still comes through. The first few seconds are from the ending of the ad before it, just ignore that nonsense.

If anybody out there has a full rip of this commercial at good quality, let me know.



Oh, and here's a bonus of Bowser freaking out after getting stuck in the pillow case to his dog bed:

19 Days Until E3

E3, the video game industry's most important and largest exhibition, begins in 19 days. I'm all set and ready to go, I just need to keep counting the days. I'll be mostly involved with the Nintendo DS side of things, but I'll surely get my chances to play the Revolution, PS2, PS3, GameCube, Xbox, Xbox 360, GBA, and PSP titles on the floor. I'm really looking forward to my 4th straight years going to E3 and second with Advanced Media Network. I'm excited to working closely with the DSA team members that will be present (myself, Stephen, Wes, and Agustin) and the rest of the AMN crew that will be working hard. Hopefully we can get the rest of the DSA team at E3 next year, even you Migs!

Each year I end up planning on taking a bunch of pictures but they always end up taking a back seat to the games. I'm sure it will be the same this year, but I'm going to try hard to get a bunch of additional pictures taken to put up on the blog. I know that Advanced Media Network will be hosting literally hundreds of pictures and tons of video of the show floor and games being presented.

Here are a few shots from past E3 shows. The first two are from two years ago when the DS was the highlight of the Nintendo presence at E3. The first picture is just a shot of the entrance to Nintendo's booth and you can see several of the names of games that were present that year. The second shot is the entrance to the DS theatre that was at the back of Nintendo's booth and was quite the wait to get into and see. Wes is directly in front of me in that picture with the sling bag. Wario was making all sorts of sarcastic and funny commments to those passing through the line.

The last two pictures are from last year's E3 and are part of what GameCube Advanced collected in their picture snapping spree. The first of those two shots shows a Zelda ad on the stairs before they allowed show attendees in. The second shot shows how they were letting people play the GameBoy Micro - tethered to a booth attendant. So, enjoy the pics, there will be many more this year!

A new blog is born...

I recently started up a new blog that is dedicated 100% to documenting my progress on getting my MAME cabinet built and running. A link to the blog is in the sidebar, but here's a direct one: Step-by-step Mame Project.

I plan on documenting my process from start to finish with photographs. Hopefully it will become a useful resource for others that are looking into doing something similar.

Photobucket has Video Now...Good News for the Blog

Now that Photobucket hosts video, I'll be able to post clips here on the blog. That should be a nice addition.

Here's one to test it out. It's Bowser out in one of the last snow storms we had, and it was really windy outside.