Ok, so trying this Ordered List thing, as recommended by and taught by . Also by PiratedTV’s request, I’m going to try and give my thoughts on more of the stories, as I’ve noticed myself that I’ve sort of slipped away from that a bit. Partly due to doing these late at night.

But not today!

1. A new trailer has appeared for Mortal Kombat Armageddon.I’m looking forward to this one, provided it makes an appearance on a Nintendo platform. At least, until I get to the last boss and once more, the ultra-cheap AI, even on Very Easy, tears me a new one.

   All the same, though, it looks like it might be fun, even online. Some of those create-a-characters look interesting, like the Akuma haircut on one, or the almost Green Arrow-esque outfit on another. And a third has a sort of generic Rock-N-Wrestling look to him…

   Anyway, I’ve liked the recent Mortal Kombats, though I’ve yet to play Shaolin Monks. Other than that boss thing that ran through most of the series, I’ve enjoyed them. Here’s hoping that this one brings about a good ending to the saga.

   Edit: Oh, wait, it’s coming to Wii, and IGN has a hands-on. Rockin’.

   …my custom fatality button sequence would just be hammering the A button until my thumb and their face matched.

   Regarding story mode, I think it’d be a neat feature for a fighting game to have a story mode that lets you play all the key matches involved in the story, and see everything strung together as its meant to be.

   And I gotta try “Motor Kombat” at least once.

2. Gamespot has a neat video interview regarding Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin for the DS.I have to admit, while I’ve always liked Castlevania, I’ve never been one to run off and grab one when it comes out, not since Super Castlevania IV, anyway. But this one really and truly interests me for some reason I haven’t entirely grasped yet.

   But the story sounds quite cool.

3. Wow.I don’t know whether this new Thundercats cartoon makes me want to laugh, or vomit.

   I’m sure that no matter what I do, though, someone else will pick up the slack for me.

   Ye Gawds, what ARE they thinking?

4. Well played, Nintendo. Well played, indeed.NOW I have to fight the urge to get a DS Lite.
5. Evidently, the title The Dark Knight is very important to the next Batman film, says a report on IGN.As for the Joker… well, going by what they say, wait’ll you get a load of him.
6. Marvel held a conference to discuss the future of the Ultimate Spider-man title, soon reaching its 100th issue, and soon afte that, seeing another company-wide milestone reached.Writer Brian Bendis also discusses the “Ultimate Clone Saga” a bit. Personally, I’ve always thought the original Clone Saga was very cool in retrospect. By which I mean, I didn’t really know much if anything about it until after the fact, beyond reputation.

   But looking back, it’s actually a neat story, and I’m hoping that Bendis does as he says he hopes to do, to do the core concept justice.

   Of course, knowing the history behind it and how it ran, I also completely understand why fans were down on it at the time.

   I’d love to see how the story shows the far-reaching effects of seeds planted in earlier issues.

   A certain return, though(keeping hush-hush for spoilers)… I don’t know what to think of it.

   And looking at that last image… man, I’m going to miss Bagley.

7. Elsewhere, possibly more trouble in Sonyland.I thought that they were saying 4 million units worldwide by year’s end, not 6?

   I wish I were a fly on the wall inside Sony. To hear the press go on about it, it sounds like there’s a new problem every day. Makes you wonder what their Christmas parties are like.

8. NO! NO! NO!!! WRONG!!!Konami, ya’ ijits, start making damn retro compilations for CONSOLES! THAT is the kind of love I want!!!

   Sakes…

9. GameDaily has a preview up for Artoon’s Yoshi’s Island 2.Feels a little out-of-touch, though, as we’ve already seen not only Baby Wario, but Baby Bowser for this title, too.

   Here’s hoping that this one is more Sonic CD than Blinx.

10. Even though I’ve never played Famicom/Advance/Batallion Wars, I really have to admit, the Wii sequel has the most brilliant name ever.Reminds me of when I once said that MegaMan Legends 3 ought to be for the GameCube and be called “MegaMan Legends Cubed”.
11. Wow, Star Fox Command has a hella-complicated story going on.
12. Hmm, so now there’s a video of the Nintendo conference from LDC. Maybe I’ll check it out later.In the meantime, if you’re so inclined, go nuts.
13. Compensation. Nintendo style.Seriously, I wonder if that thing would help improve my stylus control at all. Of course, I’ve not yet tried the DS Lite’s…
14. DS on TV? Game Boy Player, this ain’t.
15. For those interested, there are a couple of Nintendo contests ending soon, and it sounds like one’s chances are good.
16. Kotaku goes hands-on with Star Fox Command, and it sounds pretty good.Sadly, I don’t believe I’ll be getting it as soon as I’d like. Guess I’ll have to back-burner it with Super Princess Peach.

    Unless I get work.

17. Holy crap, a giant moving Gundam statue! Now just get yourself a picture of you playing Mario in the cockpit, and that contest above is as good as yours!
18. Ouch, one really has to feel for this guy.And I thought “no” was supposed to be about the same in every language? No?
19. Midway Europe’s Al King says “the next generation will end in a draw.”I’ve sorta been saying that. I think MS will remain about where it is, maybe gain a bit, Nintendo may gain quite a bit, and Sony will loseWeight Exercise a bit.
20. 2old2play takes a look at the blurring line between consoles and PCs.Makes me wonder what happens should the two become indistinguishable. Somehow, it just sounds like an ugly scenario to me. Imagine Mac vs. PC formats, but on a wider scale.
21. Oh, right. Nintendo is having a press conference in mid-September, and it seems that some questions will be answered there.Well, finally. Wish I could go.
22. I really dig these Disney’s Dragonkind statues, don’t you?
23. Bloody Hell. As soon as pictures of Megatron from the upcoming TransFormers movie they’re gone just as quick….lucky thing I know some places.
24. And finally, since I wouldn’t know first-hand, it sounds like Madden ’07 blows.Better still, if I understand this right, this is a Madden game that lacks Madden.

    You see, people? THIS is the kind of revolutionary, outside-the-box thinking we’re going to need if this industry is to survive!

LBD “Nytetrayn”

And, the next game show of the season has begun…

Funny thing here is, it feels like a slow news day, but we have a rather healthy number of items here for you today.
(more…)

1) Buddy Blaze takes a look at the story of the long-forgotten third Mario Brother as his entry into a GameTrailers contest. Check it out.

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2) Elsewhere, Boss Frog has added to GameVideos a Retronauts beta video podcast, taking a look at things such as the 15th anniversary of the SNES and 20th of Metroid, along with the likes of Scott Sharkey, Chris Kohler, and my wife(who wasn’t there for it, but via Skype).

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3) Miyamoto on Wii, new side project.

“Mario creator talks to the Japanese press about his involvement in a museum installation and explains why Nintendo decided to “destroy the paradigm” of the games industry.”

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4) Indy 4 in 2008, Lucas, Spielberg, and Ford discuss.

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5) N-Philes has 15 Nintendo Dream scans, including two for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, though those are really more just Kid Icarus stuff from the Famicom.

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6) Screenshots we’ve seen, but the box art for Capcom Classics Mini Mix is absolutely uninspiring.

Couldn’t they get Udon to render Radd, Hiryu, and the FF guys for us?

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7) OnNintendo views rumors before the Leipzig GC.

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8) Screens from the game I can’t believe I want to try.

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9) Man, they are bound and determined to get my money if this is true.

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10) New Lunar Knights scans. I thought Django wasn’t supposed to be in this?

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11) A slight sleeper of a Rockman ZX video import review.

This game is going to SO rock, once I can halfway(and so far, it seems ONLY halfway) understand it.

…it’s sort of funny hearing a guy with almost NO clue about Mega Man reviewing this, though…

“…and here we have ‘flight guy’…”

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12) More foreign fun, as a Nintendo magazine from abroad takes a look at the possibilities of other famed video game heroes appearing in the next Super Smash Bros. installment.

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13) Slashdot reports on why the console war is NOT good for gaming.

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14) Oh, right, The Wizard hit DVD yesterday.

Go get your Power Gloves on it.

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15) Game Over.

“A short-film maker by the name of Pes has put together a bloody brilliant stop-motion tribute to several arcade classics including Centipede, Frogger, Asteroids, Space Invaders and Pac-Man. The short feature, entitled Game Over, runs 1:30 minutes long, uses only household items like toy cars, muffins, shark’s teeth, and leaves for the visuals, and syncs it all to the original game soundtracks.”

Nice piece.

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16) Ok, so it’s 2 million PS3s by launch, and 2 million more by year’s end.

The plot thickens.

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17) As Kotaku says, “silly, but not a bad deal at all.”

…well, relatively speaking. If you don’t think the PSP itself is a good value now as-is, this doesn’t really improve it.

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18) While the wife isn’t much a Tetris player, I bet she’d have a hard time pulling herself away from these.

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19) Press The Buttons takes a look at the story for Star Fox Command, and draws some comparisons to the old, unreleased Star Fox 2.

If it plays like the latter, save the touch screen adjustments, I think I’ll like it juuuuust fine.

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20) An interesting look at what Nintendo needs to do to make Mario Kart stand out on the Wii.

Re: #3. Keep ROB.

…and screw snaking. Screw starting boosts, too, while we’re at it.

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21) Wow, now this is one cool controller.

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22) Street Fighter’s Sakura is a sell-out.

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23) These new Hot Topic TransFormers shirts are looking pretty cool.

What to get, what to get…?

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24) According to The Allspark, ex-Dreamwave and current IDW TransFormers artist Guido Guidi has set up a DeviantArt account, within which he has the first thirteen pages of the cancelled ongoing DW TransFormers Generation 1 comic.

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LBD “Nytetrayn”

1) A New Horizon awaits.

In something of a relative rarity, rather than hack a GBA ROM to create a game, it seems that some folks from the community have created their very own Mega Man game that can run on a GBA emulator.

It’s worth a look, anyway, though it seems like it could do with some more polish. The story is interesting as well(to say nothing of familiar to one of mine), though sadly it doesn’t really fit into the continuity at large.

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2) YU-GI-OH!!!!!

Ok, maybe this has nothing to do with the Pharaoh and his deck of magical cards, but King of Games has some neat items for your gaming wardrobe.

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3) Halo 3 closer to Halo 1 than Halo 2.

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4) Similar to The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, it would seem, Miyamoto is looking at remaking GameCube titles for the Wii, and thinks it’s possible for third-parties to be able to follow suit at a low cost.

Oh, and Marionette, a game involving puppets, is still coming, but is now for Wii.

No, I have no idea if Mario actually has anything to do with it.

IGN probes even further into the darkness in which titles like Super Mario 64 2 and others disappeared.

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5) They blew it up. Wii’s more likely to be $200 than $170. As some figured.

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6) New Capcom Classics Mini Mix screens.

Lord, I hope they don’t screw this up.

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7) Michael Bay addresses leaked TransFormers movie pics.

Bay confirmed that leaked photos of the robots that appeared last week at TFW2005.com are legit but that they are “a somewhat early rendering.” Bay’s blog added, “The CGI transformations by ILM are looking wicked and nastier every single day.” The transformations will take 3-4 seconds each.

Interesting…

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8) It would appear that since E3, Zelda for the Wii has undergone some control changes… like actual sword-swinging.

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9) Good news for Dragon Quest fans, number 9 is on the way!

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10) Marvel’s Civil War? It just got even bigger.

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11) If you’re near the Seattle area, are in middle or high-school, and want to make games, then maybe you should check out the Digipen summer camp.

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12) One Nintendo fanboy to rule them all.

Too bad the music seems kind of stilted…

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13) …half price? My ass, used games are half price…

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14) At least he isn’t suing the company.

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15) Clearly, Wario gives the best interviews of anyone at Nintendo.

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16) If you need a celphone anyway, and want a PSP(Maverick Hunter X, anyone?), then maybe you should cast your eyes this way.

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17) Can anyone spare about $500 so I can get a Gundam statue?

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18) Hey Japan, seems the shoe is on the other foot, ain’t it?

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19) Press The Buttons reminds us why Acclaim’s demise was a GOOD thing.

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20) If you’re in the market for a XBox 360, and $80 off sounds good to you, then check it out.

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21) GamePro looks at what you’ll REALLY pay for a PS3.

Insert arm, leg, and firstborn jokes here.

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22) At least Kaz Hirai is honest about there being shortages.

Gasp. Shortages of a game system during the holiday season after it launches? Why, that NEVER happens…

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23) An interesting look at what the UK Nintendo Official Magazine was saying about the GameCube just prior to launch.

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24) Creators hint at Sonic in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

I’m diggin’ it.

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25) Remy shows the world that TransFormers Classics Optimus Prime is indeed a thing of beauty.

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LBD “Nytetrayn”

…decided to make this its own post.

21) Finally, via The Allspark, TransFormers World 2005 has a look at prototypes for the movie TransFormers toys, which means that what we see in the movie ought to look something like this.

Guess the flaming longnose IS Optimus after all.

…and I can’t say these enthuse me.

Starscream might be alright, but the head looks… like WTF.

The toy Blackout/Incinerator looks good, though the face reminds me of Beast Wars Inferno on the design sheet, only not.

Scorponok works, I guess. Wonder how the robot mode looks.

Optimus… if it weren’t for the head, I’d never know it was him.

More than that, he looks like what I remember in various comics of TransFormers, including Prime, that have been ripped to pieces so you can see all their internals hanging out.

I just hope this stuff translates to film better than it does to paper.

Edit: Oh, and Mav just gave me this, showing the actual movie stuff.

…that’s Bumblebee?

…is Megatron melting?

…hoo-boy…

Oh well, as long as they’ve got Peter Cullen as Optimus, they’ve got my money.? The rest will grow on me in time.

LBD “Nytetrayn”

Today is a sad, sad day in animation and video games.

…actually, yesterday was a sad, sad day in animation and video games.

For it was then that Mr. Tony Jay, Veteran Royal Shakespeare Actor and esteemed voice artist passed on.

Tony Jay leaves a vast legacy of work in television, voice and film, with appearances with Arnold Schwartzenegger, Danny Devito, Woody Allen, Karl Malden, Kim Bassinger, Dan Ackroyd to name a few. His television performances include Beauty and the Beast (as the arch-villain Paracelcus), Golden Girls, Murphy Brown, Hunter, Bob Newhart, Night Court, Star Trek, Lois and Clark, Sisters and recently Burning Zone. His work in voice acting includes Mighty Max, Bruno the Kid, Tale Spin, Savage Dragon, Reboot and many more. His role as Judge Frollo in Disney’s “Hunchback of Notre Dame”, a role that has been been critically acclaimed as “probably the best Disney villain to date”.

Shere Kahn from TaleSpin, MegaByte from Reboot, and even the Narrator from World of Warcraft.

As someone who has looked into voice acting and would still like to give it a shot, and someone who’s simply a fan of the performances these people give, I feel Mr. Jay was without equal. He had a unique sound and delivery, one I doubt we’ll see replicated any time soon, and he was a favorite of mine.

At one point, there was a question of whether or not ReBoot would ever continue. Now there is a greater question, that being if it would even be right to continue it.

He will truly be missed.

LBD “Nytetrayn”

1) The first half of the year went so well, too. I am SORELY disappointed in Capcom right now.

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2) Capcom continues to disappoint, as they haven’t commited to a patch yet, just saying Dead Rising is optimized for HD TVs, but they do offer some stopgap solutions.

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3) Genesis Collection for the PS2 in greater detail.

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4) TransFormers to appear in the feature film to be announced Friday.

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5) IGN gives a retrospective on the N64 classic The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask.

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6) Earthbound fans, take note.

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7) In Japan, Nintendo has this neat little program called “Club Nintendo” which offers neat promotional items in exchange for proof of purchases. One such item is a Nintendo Game & Watch Collection, featuring three classic Game & Watch games.

IGN takes a closer look.

I want this. Ought to hit up eBay…

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8) IGN says you should read this guide before taking the plunge for a Nintendo DS.

…that is, if you haven’t already.

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9) GameDaily offers up a Killer Instinct Wish List.

Here’s my KI Wish List:

1) Make a new Killer Instinct.

…and that’s pretty much it.

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10) Not taking part in Nintendo.com’s Camp Hyrule? Not to worry, if you’re still interested in some of the goings-on(or are like me and just haven’t been able to attend as much as you’d like), you can read all about it at N-Philes.

The chat with the NOA localization team was pretty good, but I didn’t get my question answered.

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11) Tingle has a game. And that game has a commerical.

So bask. Bask in the forbidden fruit of fun. And fear for your soul.

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12) The official Mario vs. Donkey Kong site by Nintendo has a video you can watch showing the intro to the upcoming DS game, Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis.

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13) Sounds like Red Steel has made some strides since E3.

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14) I think we have something like this around here.

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15) Nintendo’s Senior VP of marketing George Harrison talks turkey.

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16) Cool, I got linked at Press The Buttons for my noting an absence of Applause figures.

I personally keep a crapload of figures on the top shelf of the computer desk. It’s like Mardi Gras up there.

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17) Man, Mark Bagley is leaving Ultimate Spider-man.

LBD “Nytetrayn”

1) Oh, wow. Tom Green‘s “live from his house” internet call-in show has incurred the wrath of 4chan’s /b/. YouTube has some of the bits.

Interestingly enough, Tom Green, the same guy who had lesbian porn painted on his parents’ car and shown on nationwide TV, is taking some sort of weird moral high ground here.

Oh, and he seems TOTALLY clueless to what’s going on.

It’s ironic. And yet, after some calls, an internet relay service calls the show and he screws with the operator.

Guess it’s karma.

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2) Ok, so I’m sure some people think I’m a Nintendo fanboy. I dispute this; I consider myself a strong Nintendo advocate, as I believe they serve me and what I want best. However, I still try and call things as I see them, Nintendo or otherwise.

That said, this is total crap. With the nature of game retail, I do NOT like the idea of being pigeonholed into getting a version of the game I may not care for the controls to, with no option to switch.

So no, I don’t like that at all. You let me down, Nintendo. You’re better than this! IT IS NOT TOO LATE!

The Virtual Console bit, however, I completely support. Get us some Star Fox 2 or even some betas up in there, huh?

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3) Capcom’s heard the cries of Dead Rising‘s fans, but there’s no plans to do anything yet.

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4) Trying to find rare games? Maybe GameDaily can help.

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5) Sonic Wild Fire is no more.

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6) …does anyone still care about the Phantom?

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7) Lara… greater than Mario?

Now, I’m no Lara Croft hater, I actually enjoyed the first movie and think the character isn’t as bad as some people make her out to be, and I’ve heard Tomb Raider Legend is pretty damn good.

But… no. Just no. Sorry, you loseWeight Exercise, good day, sir.

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8) PS3 to lead in market share with 44% by 2011 says analyst.”

I admit, I’m skeptical.

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9) Photos from THQ’s Wii event.

And interesting note on the speaker… hmm.

But I love the look of the Wiimote in black.

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10) Oh, damn. I don’t suppose anyone reading this is Australian and eats at Hungry Jack’s?

Oh well, at least there’s McDonald’s soon.

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11) Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! from around the world.

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12) Interesting… Wii may scoop PS3 in Australia. Just in time for the Hungry Jack toys, I guess.

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13) New Ace Ventura bomb in development.

Presumptuous? Maybe. But without Carrey, no way it’ll do that well, I’m sure.

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LBD “Nytetrayn”

1) Reggie’s obviously not a fan of the “Wii60″ movement, as he’d rather have someone buy LOTS of his product than his product and someone else’s, according to his interview with USA Today.

It does make sense to say that, from a business standpoint, and in fairness, I think Peter Moore was trying to slam his #1 competitor in Sony when he began the whole thing, rather than try to promote Nintendo. Simple math tells you that for the price of a PS3, you can get a 360 and a Wii, possibly having to only spend 50 bucks more to have both.

I’m sure that now, we’ll have Moore say he’d rather people invest in 360s and stuff, too(I’m sure he’s thought so all along). I mean, I guess it is an honest preference.

Still, Reggie…

Oh, and here I thought Wii online play was already confirmed as free. My bad.

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2) Reissue Soundwave? The one who met his wife in a Christian chatroom?

Sold. If the price isn’t absurd.

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3) New Sonic Rivals screens, featuring Silver the Hedgehog.

(he’s the big white thing in some of the screens)

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4) Huh, so SEGA is “reviving vintage brands” through other companies, I guess some would argue because they can’t manage the job by themselves. Golden Axe appears to be one such brand under Secret Level’s care, though the others seem to be mysteries.

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5) XBox looking at a new controller to improve shooters? And the possible return of trackballs as well?

Be neat if the two coincide, and SEGA can finally release a home port of their arcade “SegaSonic the Hedgehog.”

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6) Does this mean that the Penny Arcade creations didn’t work?

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7) Oh sweet Jesus, I hope this is true.

I will hug Reggie and cry on Mario’s shoulder if this is true.

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8) Then I could Wii my way to health.

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9) o/~ Doo-doo-doo… in spoil he did crawl… doo-doo-doo… a super suit did fall… o/~

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10) Star Fox Command video preview. Hope it’s as good as Star Fox 2.

I’m unsure about “up is up and down is down,” however.

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11) I’ve posted this before, but it bears repeating. A Tetris comedy act from Japan.

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12) Metal Gear Solid 2 design secrets translated.

- MGS2 was originally going to be called “Metal Gear Solid III,” for extra confusion and symbolism.

Hah, I love it.

- Raiden was designed partially as “a character in which women can more easily empathize.”

Habeeb it.

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13) Why the next gen sucks, in a nutshell.

Bad enough you only really get to see a marked improvement on HD TVs, but that games are coming out unplayable on standard? Oy. Remind me to thank Nintendo again later.

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14) Hmm, maybe this whole DS homebrew thing bears another look…

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15) Wait, so what’s so positive about this, now?

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16) Love Animal Crossing? Then HUG Animal Crossing!

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17) IT BURNS! Oh God, why did I click that link?!

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18) Ever played Castlevania: Bloodlines for the SEGA Genesis? It might be worth a look, hmm?

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19) Awesome. A site with screens of old games from when they were still in development.

Raccoon Mario in Super Mario World? And can that really be Samus?

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20) An addendum to yesterday, when I posted about these. There are more than 7 in the collection, including a Princess Peach/Toadstool figure.

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21) Will Blu-Ray sink Sony? And what happens(to everyone) if the PS3 fails?

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22) Geometry Wars creators ask for people to use their talents for good, not evil.

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23) More on Dead Rising, as it seems to be breaking some 360s now. Geeze.

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LBD “Nytetrayn”