I’m never gonna set you free

Something Awful posted a hilarious article yesterday about leaked details from Silent Hill 5. Being as big a Silent Hill fan as I am, I found it to be incredibly entertaining. Even if you’ve never played a Silent Hill game, you’ll probably enjoy it anyway out of sheer ridiculousness.

A new article from me (it’s been how long??) is coming soon. I just have to get some images finished up and we’re golden. Possibly also some post-Christmas spiels.

Wired’s Best Games of 2006 – I’m completely at ease with this list. Probably because it’s mostly games I actually play. Also, I’m friendly to anyone who shows love for Okami. And Servbots.

I don’t condone, however, Wii Sims. Yeah, it’ll sell millions in Japan, but I wonder how it’ll do over on North American shores. I guess it’s mainly women and non-gamers who play The Sims anyway though, so I guess it could probably go either way. I personally don’t like it though. How weird would it be to see those little Sims making out, hut-tubbing in the nude, or using the heart-shaped bed?

If only I had known

So Christmas was pretty good to me. Hasn’t really failed yet. However, the Christmas Haul article as you know it is dead. I don’t know if I’m going to do it differently this year, or just do it on the blog, or just skip it altogether. I haven’t decided yet. Just don’t expect the same article you’ve read the last three Christmaseses. I doubt this development (or lack thereof?) has ruined anyone’s day.

I do want to hock a site today. I recently bought the super-sweet Drist CD Orchids and Ammunition from CD Baby. Complimenting the awesomeness of the CD was the service provided to me by CD Baby. Their site is home to many many small-/no-name bands that would be impossible to find otherwise, and this alone scores a good amount of points. Then there’s the facts that it’s really easy to make a purchase from them, they sell for decent prices, and the site is very personally constructed. And by that I mean they built the site thinking of the consumers, so it feels like they’re catering specifically to yourself. To top all this off, the e-mail they sent to confirm that my purchase was on the way was hilarious and made me very happy. The whole process was really commendable. I’m most definitely looking forward to doing business with CD Baby again, and I heartily suggest that you give them your business too if you’re ever looking to the internet to make your music purchases.

I am a bike thief

Never noticed it before (mostly because I’ve been on the internet very little over the past couple months), but Mike’s got a great story about an English debate we had to suffer through back in high school. It’s a little inaccurate on the Gameboy bit (I’m not the sneakiest slacker, but I have more common sense than to play Gameboy when all eyes are on, or at least around, me), but the Pokémon line absolutely slayed me and makes the overall story just a little better. No blood no foul, as they say. Ah, it’s memories like these that really make me miss high school.

In other news, work has begun to both be more awesome and suck at the same time. The bad part is that there’s this “new” guy (I finger quote ‘new’ because he must have been transferred or worked here before) who’s pretty much nullifying my use to the company. Not only does he know Goddamn everything, he also works twice as fast as me. It sucks because now I feel completely useless, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they gave me the boot after Christmas and claimed I was only hired as seasonal help, because I’m pretty much just dead weight now. Turns out I absolutely hate feeling useless. I never knew that about myself. So what could possibly be countering this bad situation and making me still cherish my job? Well… I don’t feel like blogging down that road again. Use your imagination. I can’t imagine you’ll have too tough a time coming up with an answer.

And because I can’t really procrastinate on this one much longer, here’s the obligatory Band of the Month spiel. BotM is quitte clearly Freezepop. Or maybe it’s not so clear. That font is a bit small to read. Anyway, I don’t much like either synth or pop, but I really do like Freezepop. Freezepop makes me happy with their charming lyrics and solid beats. Like so amny other people, I was first introduced to Freezepop by Guitar Hero. Their contribution to the first game “Get Ready 2 Rokk” is awesome, and their return for GH2 “Less Talk More Rokk” is jsut as good, if not better. The only thing to note is that their Guitar Hero songs are very different from their regular offerings, which have much more of that pop flair to them.

It took some doing, but I finally was able to acquire the album shown above (Fancy Ultra*Fresh), and I do quite enjoy it. Though I have to say, it’s kind of a downhill ride the whole way. It’s not that the songs get bad, but it’s just that all the best stuff is clumped up in the first half. Easily recommendable though, but definitely not for everyone. I know a lot of people who would probably dismiss Freezepop long before even listening to one song, but listening to them always puts a smile on my face and warms my heart just a little.

Don’t you run away and hide

Surely you’ve all seen the hilarious safety pictures from the Japanese Wii Manual, so I won’t link to them. However, I think the fake ones are definitely worth the linkage.

Finally got around to renting and watching Nacho Libre last week. I had never realized it was a Nickelodeon movie, and as such it was pretty kid-friendly. Needless to say, my expectations were beaten severely. It wasn’t that bad, but it could have been a lot better were it not essentailly a family movie. At least Jack Black is a good actor. His performance really hold it together. That and the fact that I find lucha libre to be hilarious in its own right.

I also watched the first Hellraiser movie on Sunday. It was respectably good, and much different than I had imagined it. Not so much a slasher as just a kind of sadistic horror movie, but enjoyable all the same. Now I’ve only got seven left to watch, and damn that’s going to take some time. Apparently they start to suck after the third, though. Oh well. They’re all sitting there staing at me, just begging to be watched, so I guess I’m going to have to do it eventually.

I find it kind of sad

So yeah. Ummm… Between working, drawing comics, and playing Wii, I’ve really got so much…

You know what, I just didn’t care enough to make any posts over the last two weeks. Sue me. But now, holy crap, I just saw the Gears commercial. And holy camoly is it awesome. I can’t imagine I’d enjoy the game too much, but this commercial totally sells me on it. Totally. I’m going out and buying a 360 tomorrow*.

I guess I’ll give some basic impressions on the Wii while I’m here. System, controller, whatnot: awesome. Channels: Where are they? Seriously. I wants my damned forecast and I wants it now. I’ve been spending a lot of time on the Mii channel, as expected. Zelda is freaking sweet. Everyone says it’s ugly, but I don’t see it. I guess I just wasn’t expecting much on the graphics front. Rayman Raving Rabbids is great and hilarious. I just can’t get enough of those bunnies. Multiplayer is fantastic too, for the most part. Taking turns is kinda weak, but whatever. Trauma Center: Second Opinion is like the best launch title ever, even if it is an upgraded port. It’s so much of a relief to be able to actually progress in the game. It’s a bit disheartening to have to play on easy, but hey, it’s an incredibly hard game. More later.

*Not really.

I can’t sleep at night

Happy Playstation 3 day, everyone. I still think it’s a big waste of money, but if you wanted one, I hope you get it. To each his own, I guess.

Only two more days until Wii, and I can finally sleep again. Assuming I get one. With all this talk of limited shipments and sold-out preorders, my fears are plateauing right about now. It’s like some sort of horrible, twisted Christmas, where if you can’t run fast enough, Santa won’t visit your house. Or a better metaphor than that. I’ve gotten very little sleep over the last week, so my writing ability is even worse than usual. I’d ask them to put one aside for me at work, but I overheard they’ve sold out of pre-orders, and I don’t want to look like a dumbass for missing the reservation boat. Well, that’s my punishment for not getting off my ass and pre-ordering it six months ago like a younger, more fanatical me would have. I guess I just have to rely on the city’s population to be as anti-Nintendo as I imagine them to be. I know a healthy portion of my friends have jumped on the Wii bandwagon, but I’ll assume hope sacrifice virgin maidens pray that everyone who’s going to be camping is camping for a PS3 as I type.

On a lighter note, I’m already almost done typing up the inevitable “10 Best Games of 2006” article. It won’t be posted until January, but I’ll tell you now that it’s going to disappoint your ass. Also, there’s quite a bombshell announcment tucked in there which will probably lower your opinion of me even more than the list of games I chose will. Froth with anticipation!

EDIT (5:22AM): I just noticed that Planet GameCube has gone through their much-talked-about change and is now the swanky NintendoWorldReport. A little disorienting at first, but overall I like it.

Push push

I got an e-mail today informing me that CausticTruths.com has added me to their links. Their many thousands of links. I’m slightly confused by it all, considering it’s the website for a metal magazine, but hey, I guess it’s kind of neat.

On a slightly more exciting note, I only have to suffer thorugh four more days of a Wii-less existence. To celebrate, a link to IGN’s superb Wii Launch Guide. While its not all up yet, there’s still more than enough info for those of you who need it before making a decision. Or maybe you’re just really excitied about the Wii and want to read more about it.