Tomorrow is the first anniversary of our church, Churchill Meadows Christian Church. I get to do the A/V portion of the service. Which is something I do every other week anyway, but it's nice that I was able to do it on this big day :)

Gah. Two days of no plans and time off and what do I do? I play Animal Crossing all day. Which would be fine if I didn't have a bunch of games that actually had a beginning and end to work on. Sigh. But it's just so bloody addictive!

Ah Starfox. Great game. I think this Penny Arcade strip sums it up.

hee hee... I did the "What Dictator Am I?" test and I'm Saddam Hussein. Better watch out.

You managed to piss off western countries by killing innocent people to get you're hands on oil fields that don't belong to you! That's THEIR job, so a task force was sent to kick you up the backside. They succeeded, but you managed to make them look stupid when it was reviled that the American armed forces had somehow shot down four times as many missiles then you actually owned, and the UK was selling you guns and weapon parts while at war to use against them! So "daddy's little boy" is after you now. Considering what happened the last time, I bet you're SO scared! What tin-pot dictator are you? Take the "What Dictator am I?" test at PoisonedMinds.com

Also, on a more sombre note, my little brother Grant, aka Sapper Wager in the Canadian Armed Forces, had a death of one of his fellow Sappers occur this week while on a training mission. You hear about these kinds of things, but this hits close to home. I don't really know what else to say. Just don't forget that the people in the army aren't only in danger when they're on a mission. Kind of makes me glad I've only got to deal with annoyances rather than live ammo and explosives on a daily basis. (virtual = good. real=bad)

I hope my Animal Crossing friends still like me.

I'm back from the cottage. Good times were had by all, although drownings were narrowly avoided by only one.

Got Starfox too. Woo! Now I can't get anything till I've finished it, Mafia and Kingdom Hearts.

Also, if you go to Australia, you can meet the guy who does Mario's voice :)

Blizzard's StarCraft: Ghost Announced
Blizzard announces StarCraft: Ghost for consoles at the Tokyo Game Show.
Thursday September 19, 2002 | hardcore_pawn


StarCraft: Ghost is official
Blizzard has unveiled its new project - StarCraft: Ghost - today at the Tokyo Game Show 2002 which is currently underway at the Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba, Japan. After much speculation from the gaming community, Blizzard officially answered the question on everyone's minds by issuing this press release which says the game is coming to multiple console platforms in late 2003.


"MAKUHARI, Japan � September 20, 2002 � During a press conference today at the Tokyo Game Show, Blizzard Entertainment�, a studio of the games division of Vivendi Universal Publishing, unveiled StarCraft: Ghost�, a tactical-action console game set in Blizzard�s epic StarCraft� universe. StarCraft: Ghost is currently under development and is scheduled for a worldwide release on multiple console systems. The game will be co-published by Capcom and Blizzard Entertainment in Japan; further announcements regarding platform/country specifics will be announced in the months to come.

In StarCraft: Ghost, players take the role of Nova, a lethal Ghost operative skillfully trained in the arts of espionage and tactical combat. Twenty years of ruthless physical conditioning and techno-psychological instruction have made Nova a being of terrifying potential. With the help of a determined group of allies, players follow a series of story-driven missions, engaging in a deadly mix of planetary battles and dangerous solo operations. To complete their mission objectives, players must execute intelligent tactical decisions while mastering an advanced arsenal of sophisticated weaponry.

�We�re very excited about returning to the StarCraft series,� stated Mike Morhaime, Blizzard Entertainment president and co-founder. �Our roots are based in console gaming, and we look forward to developing this universe for the next-generation console systems.�

Key features in StarCraft: Ghost include:


Revolutionary new style of gameplay featuring enhanced physical and psionic abilities
Hostile Environment Suit designed to magnify strength, agility, and speed
Over-the-top special effects offer stunning visuals and unparalleled tactical realism
Immersive 3D environments showcase rich textures and highly stylized character models
Unique Calldown abilities allow players to target large-scale attacks from the ground
A deeply evolving storyline set in Blizzard�s gritty sci-fi StarCraft universe

As the story unravels, players find themselves traversing uncharted terrain and battling adversaries never before seen by followers of the series. Bold 3D graphics give players a new, in-depth perspective on familiar planets and former battlefields from the legendary universe. A dynamic 3rd-person camera view displays dramatic lighting, startling detail, and a blend of realistic and fantastical design. Co-developed by Blizzard Entertainment and Nihilistic Software, Inc.�, StarCraft: Ghost is scheduled for release in late 2003.

Since its debut in 1998, the #1-selling StarCraft series* has won industry acclaim and has shattered sales records worldwide with over six million copies shipped. Blizzard continued the series with the critically acclaimed StarCraft: Brood War�, which won multiple Expansion Pack of the Year awards and is still considered by many critics to be one of the best add-on products to date."

Oh no.

24:Season One is out on DVD. Normally I'd be ecstatic, but while I'm very happy it's out, I'm sad because I won't have enough to get it for a few weeks :(

Oh well.

Oh man, Kingdom Hearts is SO good.

I just wish I could get out of work tomorrow to play it and Animal Crossing all day :)

Oh well.

Yay!

Got Kingdom Hearts.

Off to play I go!

Animal Crossing.

Very good game.

But beware the Gangsta-talking chicken.

More later.

"Farscape TV program is cancelled

I'm hoping that the cancellation of the SciFi channel's program, Farscape, is newsworthy enough to get UF behind it. Any day now, the sets are going to be permanently destroyed (if not already... I'm not certain), and no series finale is scheduled. Filming will simply end without a resolution. "

NOOOOO!

(got that from Userfriendly.org)

Kingdom Hearts is out in what, a day, maybe less (the guys at EB said it would definately be in by Thursday, even though it is slated for release tomorrow). Of course, I'm in that kind of limbo where there is a game I really want (KH) out soon, but it's not far enough away for me to justify starting another game up in the meantime. Hmm... I guess Mafia will keep me occupied for the next day or so :)

I picked up an application to work at EB today. I pretty much just would do some part time work during the day before work at the group home, but it's mainly just to get enough to supplement my gaming habit. I mean, I'm at the store more than most of the employees, and I sure know more than they do, so why not get paid for the expertise? :)

That, and just doing the 'Go to the group home, come home, play games, sleep, play more games, go to group home' cycle has begun to just make me crave doing something else, and retail is fun, in a non-brain-injuring sort of way.

I finished Shenmue 2 today. Now I have to wait for the Xbox version to be released, do well and then maybe, JUST MAYBE, Yu Suzuki will decide that he wants to finish the series (I seriously think that it shouldn't go much further than 3 separate games, even though Shenmue 2 was really Shenmue 2-6 or something to that effect all in one package).

Great game though.

Grand Theft Sunshine. You know you want it.

Man, Mafia is SUCH a good game. I have been totally sucked into it. It's not as brain-liquifyingly hard as some reviews might make it out to be, and I actually enjoy the driving parts as they help to further immerse you into the game world since you don't just miraculously appear wherever the mission is.

It's like Grand Theft Auto 3 but with a VERY strong storyline (it keeps getting better and better) and AMAZING missions. For example. I just did a mission where I first had to go to this hotel/brothel and a) kill the manager (which isn't simple given the fact he's sitting in a restaurant surrounded by goons) then b) kill a prostitute who'd been squealing to the cops about my operation and then c) steal some documents and blow up the office of the manager (whom I'd just killed in the hotel restaurant moments earlier)...

And that's just the first part of the mission. I then had to flee across the rooftops from the cops and then finally wrap everything up in a huge shootout in a church in the midst of a funeral (for a guy I'd killed in an earlier mission, at that!)

That's just ONE mission... there are about 20 of them I've heard, along with the freeride and freeride extreme where you just drive around and goof off in the city.

I spent the weekend w/ James(Taka) putting my DVD player through its paces. Nicest thing about a 5-disc DVD player is that you can watch movies all day and not have to get up once you get them all loaded into the machine :)

Let's see... we watched Blade 2, Reservoir Dogs, The Legend of Zhu, The Five Deadly Venoms, Ninja Resurrection, Tampopo and Who Am I? . I think that's it. My brain hurts now.

Well, it looks like it's official. Microsoft has bought out Rare. Sigh. Granted, this may mean there will be more than 4 worthwhile titles on the Xbox, but it is still kind of sad to see a company like Rare abandon Nintendo.

Mafia is a good game. Have I mentioned that yet?

Well, I just finished Onimusha 2. Pretty nice game. Same great samurai sword-swingin' action as the first one, but this time it was much longer (12 hours rather than the measly 4-5 hours the first one took to complete) and I found the multiple settings a welcome change to the lone castle of the first one.

Now Capcom just needs to hurry up and finish Onimusha 3! (Yes, there is a third one. The trailer is unlocked when you finish this one).

Check out that screenshot. It's from this new Mafia game... man, it's gorgeous.

That's ingame by the way.

Beware of dentists.

I went into the dentist today to get a filling checked out. The next thing I know, I'm walking out of there having just experienced the wonder and joy that is a ROOT CANAL.

Sigh.

I should have just done it myself... or at least had this list to help me pass the time.

At least I get the next two days off to recouperate. I did have to go interview people right after the procedure, which was a barrel of fun, I tell you. Ah well. My DVD player arrives tomorrow. Woo!

This is an interesting interview with Dr. Henry Jenkins, the professor of comparative media at MIT. He is effectively a video game prof. Man, I'm jealous.

Congrats to Darren & Lisa Chevalier (man, that looks odd)... About time you two finally tied the knot!

PlayStation 3 not a console?

While Sony basks in the success of its PlayStation 2, expectations are rising that its successor will be out by 2005, in an entirely different form.

Sony remains tight-lipped about the timing of its next-generation product's debut, but it is dropping some hints about the PlayStation 3's likely shape--or more accurately, lack of shape.
"We're not thinking about hardware," said Kenichi Fukunaga, spokesman for Sony Computer Entertainment. "The ideal solution would be having an operating system installed in various home appliances that could run game programs."

Fueling expectations of a 2005 target date is a chip project between Sony, IBM, and Toshiba, Japan's largest chipmaker and coproducer of the PS2's complex microprocessor. The four-year project, code-named Cell and set for completion in spring 2005, aims to create a powerful processor for home electronics with ultrafast Internet connections that could, for example, transmit high-resolution moving pictures.

"It's possible PlayStation 3 would come out in 2005, since that's when Sony's Cell project will yield something," said Kazuharu Miura, an analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research. He added that, by 2005, Japan's broadband infrastructure for high-speed Internet service will be largely complete, and Sony will likely have a clearer idea of what kind of online games people want to play.

Sony said it had not decided how to integrate the Cell processor into its next game console, but the general idea is to use the chip in Internet servers and home electronics to divide computing tasks among networked machines.

This would give the devices as much processing power as a supercomputer, such as IBM's Deep Blue machine that defeated Gary Kasparov at chess, and enable them to handle everything from games to video recording to downloading data from the Internet.

"We've started with boxes--making boxes to do specific things. But if you have a chip this powerful, you can add functions to any box. It's reverse thinking," Fukunaga said.

Got the Before and After shots of our garden!

Front Yard: Before (top) and After (bottom)

Back Yard: Before (top) and After (bottom)

This is, like, interesting. A, like, etymology of the word, "like", as it is, like, used in modern English.

I'll have some pictures of our house up shortly. Got some nice before and after shots of the back garden.

While my wife thinks this is a great idea, the new law in Greece that outright bans ANY videogame or electronic game (this means Solitaire in Windows or whatever happens to be on your mobile phone) has got to be one of the stupidest laws ever.

I mean, sure, if they want to ban M-Rated games, that's fine. But to do a complete crackdown is just stupid.

People will actually have to talk, read and go outside... that's just NOT RIGHT!

Well, yesterday I made my first (and hopefully only) purchase from The Home Shopping Channel.

Got an LG (Zenith) 5-Disc DVD/CD/MP3 player for only $195 Canadian! Woo!

The scariest part was that Julie (my wife for those who don't know) actually went along with it, almost to the point of encouraging me. Something just isn't right about that.