1. I’ve seen it mentioned before, but thanks to jackscarab: Get bent, Dr. Phil.

   I’d be willing to concede that maybe video games were a detriment to this person’s mental state if only guys like this would first concede that maybe they had deeper problems to start with, given that millions upon millions of people of all ages play these games (whether some of the younger should or not), and the fact that World Wars III, IV, and V haven’t erupted in rapid succession yet.

   Fair? I think that’s fair. Do you think that’s fair? Because I’m pretty sure that’s fair.

   As far as guns go, I’m no gun nut, but I think that this could potentially have been a better-case scenario than if he didn’t have access to guns. What if the lack of access to firearms forced him to be more… “creative.” I’m talking bombs and other stuff here.

   Simple fact is, what happened here? There is no simple answer. Society has formed various layers of problems over what was this man’s life, and his brain just couldn’t handle being smothered. There is no simple answer like “video games” or “music” here. There’s talk that his girlfriend dumped him, or that he was being faced with failure in school. Maybe the two came in close proximity, and he couldn’t handle it all at once.

   Chris Kohler sums it up best, thanks to some help from Chris Rock.

2. …and now, my brain just broke.

   Reading over this, he makes some good points. Kotaku cuts to the meaty parts.

3. Game|Life has got a video featuring Jack Thompson’s immediate response to the happenings, which Kotaku’s Brian Crecente dissects piece-by-piece.

   For the record, I could only watch about 25 seconds before my stomach started turning.

4. I suppose all the above makes this just a little ironic.
5. Lighter news. So much lighter, you’ll need shades… which allow you to view the world on the radio-wave-spectrum level.

   Despite the lack of MegaMan NT Warrior Axess sequels Stream, Beast, and Beast Plus, it looks like VIZ is set to jump on board the Star Force Express right at the first station this time out, as news came from the VIZ Media International Show the anime known as Ryuusei no Rockman is coming our way, with 13 20-minute episodes. The release had the following to say:

   “In the year 220X, a new technology has been developed to enable contact with extraterrestrial life forms. A mysterious accident occurs during the first communication attempt and Geo Stelar’s father, an astronomical
   scientist, disappears. After the accident, Geo is determined to follow his father’s footsteps and unravel the secrets surrounding the disappearance. Geo finds his father’s visualizer, which allows him to see invisible electromagnetic waves, and soon after witnesses a fight between two sporadic waves, one of which unexpectedly rushes toward him!

   Geo learns that what he’s seen isn’t an electromagnetic wave, but an extraterrestrial life form – Omega-Xis, and FM-ian who has escaped his home Planet FM with the mysterious Andromeda Key. Other FM-ians are determined to destroy Planet Earth and release FM viruses to succeed in their cause. When Geo and Omega-Xis merge by exchanging electromagnetic waves, they become Mega Man – the only one who can protect humankind and save the planet!”

   Naturally, it’s the beings who dwell on Planet FM who are so violent… on Planet AM, they just sit around and talk a lot.

   One can hope that VIZ and Capcom are working more closely than before, so that we don’t wind up with two different localizations. As regards Star Force‘s prequels and their fates in the US, I suppose I’ll have to investigate, as well as if any Star Force merch is to be expected.

6. That’s not the only news out of VIZ, however! In a further example of awesome, Death Note is coming, with 37 half-hour episodes!

   “DEATH NOTE, based on the Shueisha manga series of the same name, is currently one of the hottest anime titles in Japan. It depicts the adventures of Light Yagami, an ace student with great prospects but who is bored out of his mind. All of that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the
   power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But when criminals begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective L to investigate, and he is soon hot on the trail of Light, who must now reevaluate his one noble goal.”

   The question this poses to me, however, is how Death Note gets a full 30-minutes. Is it straight to DVD? Broken up by 30 minutes of commercials? Or is it just a simple inconsistency?

7. Other announced releases that I don’t care so much about: MÄR, Honey and Clover, and Zoids Genesis. If you want the release for any of those, say so in the comments and I’ll add it tomorrow.
8. Brian-Michael Bendis writing Halo?

   I am so sold.

9. The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are coming to XBox Live Marketplace.

   Ok, not being a 360 owner (yet), I don’t have a full grasp on this “Marketplace” thing. But when I hear “market,” I think “money.” So of course, they’re charging 160 points/$2 a pop for these. Well, that’s why I have cable.

10. Speaking of the 360, if you’re looking at the Elite and think it’s pretty sweet, EB/GameStop is actually doing something good for a change, and increasing the trade-in value on the old boys. But it’s only good until April 27th.
11. So SEGA has scooped up some Marvel licenses.

    Fun fact: Since THQ held the rights to The Punisher, he couldn’t be used in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.

    Thus the question must be asked: should Activision wish to make an Ultimate Alliance 2, would Captain America, Thor, and Hulk have to sit that one out?

12. Hopefully it can be taken as a good sign to Ace Attorney fans that Gyakuten Saiban 4 is the highest-selling entry in the series.
13. Sounds like Wii is continuing to succeed in Nintendo’s mission. No, not the one about making as much money as possible, but the other one, the part about bringing back old gamers who put the controller down years ago.
14. Get ready to update your Wii ‘ware, Neo Geo is coming to Virtual Consoles worldwide!

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 18th, 2007 at 7:27 am and is filed under The Daily 'Shroom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.