The code

Courtesy of my good buddy, and fellow gamer, Skull Shagger. Yanked off his awesome robotics website, BotDork.

01010101 01110000 00100000 01010101 01110000 00100000 01000100 01101111 01110111 01101110 00100000 01000100 01101111 01110111 01101110 00100000 01001100 01100101 01100110 01110100 00100000 01010010 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100 00100000 01001100 01100101 01100110 01110100 00100000 01010010 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100 00100000 01000010 00100000 01000001 00100000 01010011 01110100 01100001 01110010 01110100

The only code any gamer should know.

And the hit's just keep on coming

Once again, sorry about the lack of posts. Things just keep getting worse. Until I can rap my brain around all that is happening, enjoy this:

Mmmmmmmm, Wii Cake

I received the following through my good friend, and Nintendo rep, R. The original article at Wired can be found here, however it doesn't really tell you how to do it. Here's the down and dirty of how it's done. (I've edited out names to protect the innocent). It does however piss me off that Martha Stewart is getting credit for something she didn't do.

My name is Lesli XXXXXXX from XXXXXXX. I created the Wii cake for Wired Magazine. John asked me to get in touch with you regarding information you will need about the Wii cake.

To build the cake layers: I used a White Cake recipe- multiplied several times to get the dimensions I needed to build Wii.

The recipe is as follows: I multiplied this recipe approximately 24 times to create Wii.
Please note that I omitted the baking powder when I made my recipe- as I needed the cake to be extremely dense to build Wii.

White Cake

1 time recipe
6 oz unsalted butter (room temperature)
2 cups granulated sugar
1 ½ tsp salt
3 1/3 cup cake flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 ¼ cup milk
¾ tsp vanilla
7 oz egg whites
½ cup granulated sugar

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease and flour two 8x2” pans.
In a large bowl, sift together cake flour, baking powder and salt.
Combine the milk and vanilla. Set aside.
Using a standing mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and the 2 cups granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Scrape down bowl.
On low speed add cake flour mixture alternating with the milk to the creamed butter- begin and end with the flour. Mix only until combined.
In a separate mixing bowl, using a whisk attachment beat egg whites on high speed until soft peak forms. Continuing at a high speed, add ½ cup granulated sugar in a slow, steady stream. Continue beating until medium/stiff, glossy peaks form. You have just created a meringue.
Fold meringue into the cake batter in 3 additions, being careful not to over mix.
Spread the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 40 minutes.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream – I multiplied this recipe approximately 18 times for the Wii cake

1 time recipe
10 oz Egg Whites
20 oz Granulated Sugar
2 lbs Unsalted butter, softened (cubed)
2 Tbsp Vanilla extract

Procedure:
In a large bowl, combine egg whites and sugar.
Set over a pot of boiling water- bain marie.
Using a whisk mix the white until hot to the touch and the sugar has dissolved, approximately 140 degrees.
Using a standing mixer with the whisk attachment beat the white mixture on high until glossy peaks have formed and mixture has cooled.
Lower the speed of the mixer to low and add the cubed butter, a little at a time.
After all the butter has been added, put the mixer on medium/high speed. Mix until soft and fluffy.
Add vanilla.
Mix until combined.

Wii Cake for Wired Magazine

For the large Wii cake for Wired magazine, I multiplied the above cake recipe 24 times. I filled a 16” x 3” square pan and a 14”x3” square pan. The 16” cake was for the main/top part of Wii and the 14” cake was for the silver bottom base and the remote.
Once the cake layers finished baking- I set them aside to cool. I chilled them overnight in the refrigerator so that they would be extra firm to work with.

I cut cardboard bases for each part of Wii: the main console, the silver base and the remote.

Top part of Wii/ Main part
To create the top part of Wii, I cut the 16” cake to form: 13” height sloping down to 11” height. I kept the width of the cake to 3”. The bottom length was cut to 14”. After I cut these dimensions, I put the cake in the fridge to chill.

Crumb coat: I put an initial coat of Buttercream frosting on the cake. Once my crumb coat was finished, I set the cake in the freezer to harden.

Once the cake was well chilled in the freezer, approximately 1 hour, I repeated the frosting another 2 times... again freezing in between both coats.

Buttons- I cut pieces of fondant out, approximately 1/8 “ thick. I drew the desired designs on the buttons with milk chocolate and white chocolate tinted red, blue, green. I set them aside to dry. I also used edible/colored powder… creating a solution of lemon extract and the powder to serve as “paint” to color the buttons—this made the blue slot on Wii.
Once the buttons were dry I “glued” them onto Wii using white chocolate.

Base of Wii/ Silver bottom
To create the base of Wii, I cut the 14” cake to form: 14” length x 3” height x 4” width. After I cut these dimensions, I put the cake in the fridge to chill.

Crumb coat: I put an initial coat of Buttercream frosting on the cake. Once my crumb coat was finished, I set the cake in the freezer to harden.

Once the cake was well chilled in the freezer, approximately 1 hour, I repeated the frosting 1 more time. I placed the cake again in the freezer to harden.

Fondant finish (***please note that our fondant is store bought***) - I kneaded white fondant until soft and pliable. I rolled the fondant to approximately 20”x 10”- approximately ¼ “ thick. I draped this over my buttercreamed Wii base... smoothing the top and sides of the cake with my palms- cutting away the extra fondant with a pizza wheel.

I created a solution of silver luster dust (edible luster powder) with lemon extract. I then used a paintbrush to cover the base silver with this solution.

I set the cake aside to dry.


Remote
To create the remote for the Wii cake, I used the leftover cake from the 14” pan (after I cut out the Wii base dimensions). The dimensions of the remote were 9” in length x 2” height x 3 ½ “ width. After I cut these dimensions, I put the cake in the fridge to chill.

Crumb coat: I put a first coat of Buttercream frosting on the cake. Once my crumb coat was finished, I set the cake in the freezer to harden.

Once the cake was well chilled in the freezer, approximately 1 hour, I repeated the frosting 1 more time. I placed the cake again in the freezer to harden.

Fondant finish- I kneaded white fondant until soft and pliable. I rolled the fondant to approximately 8”x 14”- approximately ¼ “ thick. I draped this over my buttercreamed remote… smoothing the top and sides of the cake with my palms- cutting away the extra fondant with a pizza wheel.

I set the cake aside while I made my buttons for the remote.

Buttons- I cut pieces of fondant out, approximately 1/8 “ thick. I drew the desired designs on the buttons with milk chocolate and white chocolate tinted red, blue, green. I set them aside to dry.

Once the buttons were dry I “glued” them onto the remote using white chocolate. I set the finished remote aside to dry.

Setting up the Wii cake:

I placed the silver finished base on my final board… I inserted wooden dowels in 3 places on the cake (top, middle, and bottom) and cut them flush to the cake. This provided the support to hold the top cake (main console).

I stacked the top console on top of the silver base and again inserted wooden dowels at 2 locations- hammering them through the dowels of the silver base. Picture wooden dowels going through the top part of Wii into the bottom base.

Now the cake has enough support to stand on its own.

Pity it's not made for eatin'. Maybe it's time to flex my foodie ninja skills.

Wii laugh at everything

Just another random YouTube video. HH2 will be like this very soon.

Wii Warnings

Warning: The following video is not safe for work, home, school, certain day care facilities, or the country of Norway. Small children should avert their eyes and ears. The video should not be viewed by those who are nursing, pregnant, or those who may become pregnant. Some viewers will experience certain side effects such as nausea, vomiting, and the uncontrollable urge to cut down a tree with a herring. No representation is made that the quality of the video to be viewed is great than the quality of video viewed through someone else's eyeballs. Now place your head back against the headrest, put your arms and legs straight out in front of you, and enjoy your flight.

Off to the 'ham... again

My father-in-law's birthday. Good opportunity to test my hypothesis on the appeal of Pokemon Battle Revolutions to boys under nine. It also means a trip to Milo's. Mmmmmmmm, cheezebergerz.

"Everybody Goes to Milo's"

A boy's fancy

As summer draws to a close, a boy's attention is focused on the future. In the case of a gamer such as myself, it means looking at what games are in the pipeline and planning for the future. With games costing an average of $55 a pop one can quickly go broke attempting to purchase everything that excites a man. Aside from taking a loan to purchase everything, I recommend using a service like Gamefly or Gameznflix.

Either service is great, but a man still needs an idea what to play. Here's the short list of what most excites me:

For the Wii-
Mario Strikers Charged (July 30)
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (August 27)
LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (October)
M&M’s Kart Racing (October)
Battalion Wars 2 (October 29)
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (November)
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary (November)
Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (November)
Super Mario Galaxy (November 12)
Super Smash Brothers Brawl (December 3)
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Fall 2007)
Mario Kart Wii (Early 2008)
Wii Fit (TBD)

For the DS-
Picross DS (July 30)
Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day (August 20)
The Legend of Zelda®: Phantom Hourglass (October 1 [my birthday])
Call of Duty (Fall)
Contra 4 (Fall)
Backyard Hockey (September)
Dementium: The Ward (October)
My French Coach (November [my french c'est merde])
My Spanish Coach (November [trying to learn Espagnol])

For the 360-
All Pro Football 2008 (this one is already out)
Halo 3
Halo Wars
Mass Effect
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Hellboy
Nascar '08

There's got to be a crap ton that I've left out, but these are the titles that really tickle my fancy for now. Expect full reports as a I get my hands on them.

Two down

Well, HH6 is out on two interviews today. The first company seems kind of "meh," the second is right up her alley. One more tomorrow and a big one next week.

Maybe things will start going right. But now that I've said that, it won't. Damn Murphy.

The good thing is, HH2 and I have settled back into our routine.

Thick as thieves

Triple Crown of Suck

My apologies for the lack of anything really substantial and for all the cryptic messages strewn throughout my posts of late. Things have taken a decidedly awful turn in the hacienda of late, and I just can't keep it bottled up any longer.

Let's start with the fact that aside from our last name we don't have two nickels to rub together. B-R-O-K-E, broke. Coasting on fumes. One meal away from a steady diet of hot dogs and crappy, American ramen. The culprit? The contracts that HH6's work was counting on did not get renewed. So that means a staff of several dozen engineers and tech writers get to sit around all day with their collective thumbs up their bums for 40 hours a week. And what happens when there's no work for engineers and tech writers and there's no new contracts coming in? That's right, lay offs!

6 got the boot this past Friday. Not at all performance based, just financial. At least she got a somewhat decent severance package. She gets another month on the payroll, plus her vacation time, so that works out to about seven more weeks on the company dime. Our health insurance is still good through the end of the month as well. The search for new, gainful employment is on. I helped get her resume together and it's on the way to a few places. It's really helpful that she's got experience in the rotorcraft field now, so hopefully she can manage something really cool like Sikorsky or the like. Keep your fingers crossed.

And now for the final bit of suckiness, the crown jewel. The short version is this, the ex, who has been engaged for several months now, and her fiance want to move to California. Permanently. And guess who has custody of HH7? So she came to me seeking permission to move my daughter clear across the country. As if I don't get to see her enough as it is.

I've always strived to be the better person in all of this. I look at what my wife has gone through as a result of her parents divorcing and I've always tried to keep that from happening to 7. I've made countless concessions for the sake of civility. I've had to share my visitation of my daughter will my side of the family. I've dropped everything and canceled plans to keep her last minute. And now the woman I spent seven total years with expects me to give up my daughter.

After much consideration and soul searching, my answer to her was no.

You see, this decision actually wasn't easy for me to come to. I realized that I wasn't the only person in all of this that stood to lose my precious Sweet Pea. All total, 4 grandparents, 1 great-grandmother, two uncles, an aunt, 4 cousins, her step mom, and her brother also stand to lose her, not to mention numerous friends. I ask you, how can any man make a decision that would negatively affect the lives of so many people?

So I told her, and we talked about it, and she has basically said I'll see you in court. So, here we are. I've been reasonable. I even came up with a solution where everyone wins, but the ex doesn't see it that way. I proposed that 7 stay here and I would send her to California every chance possible. This would basically work out to where she would spend 1/3rd of the year exclusively with the ex and the other 2/3rds of the year spent here shared among everyone else. But of course she won't go for it. She fails to see that the only person that stands to gain anything by 7 going to California is herself, everyone else loses.

And that's where things are now. I'm in a perpetual state of hell. I've pretty much worried myself into an ulcer. And I'm faced with going a route that I never wanted to go.

Maybe if I sleep long enough I'll wake up and realize this was all some horrible nightmare.

730 days of bliss

Sorry I've been absent, a lot has happened and I have a lot to post.

But, that's not the purpose of this post. She's been mine for 730 days exactly by the time this posts. She's more than I deserve and I love her more with each passing moment.

I love you HH6. Thank you for making me a better man.

This does my heart good

Miyamoto Shigeru (Asian names are always family name first, proper name last) recently told Kotaku.com this:

Don't movie directors usually make films until they die? Annually, I don't make that much money. So I don't think I can retire.

See that? Papa-san of Nintendo doesn't plan to retire.




And the answer to the question is no.

Of things to come

First of all, let me mention something about E3, I like the new format. I like the fact that it's for the media and not the rabid fanboys. I like the fact that the booth babes and overly extravagant gaudiness is gone. I like the fact that it's about the games. I only wish I could've been there. That being said, on with the show.

The press conferences are in the bag and I've had a chance to digest everything I've seen. Some good, some bad. Some old news, a bit of new. Figure it best to start with what I really don't care about, and work towards what I really, really do.

Sony. I'm not a fan. Never have been. In my film days, I was a Minolta man. As I made the transition into digital photography I intended to remain loyal to my favored camera brand. But Sony bought them out. I know that's a bit off topic, but I'm just trying to set the stage here.

The first thing that struck me was the cheesy, crappy opening. Sony decided to showcase its very own Second Life rip-off "Playstation Home" from the get go. PS Home is a virtual environment that allows users to create a digital self (sound familiar?), complete with home and various brick-a-brack, and acts as a nexus to the PS online community. At one point the presenter remarked about the many consumers that he could interact with in the virtual square he was in. There were five other avatars in the square. This I found rather telling later in the address when it was mentioned there were 950,000 users of the online service in the US. Compare that to the over six million Xbox Live users in the US and you see where all the time spent gaming online in this country is. The Sony address was long on game videos, but no demos. In fact, only one game was demoed, MotorStorm. The same MotorStorm that's been available since the launch of the PS3. Exclusive was a word thrown around a lot, however, if you listened closely, every exclusive carried with it "this year" somewhere towards the end. What does this mean? Exclusive is to Sony as liquor was to Bluto in Animal House, fleeting.

Sony introduced a new version of the PSP and guess what? It's just about the same. The only notable differences were that the new version is lighter and slimmer and supports media output. That's it. I weep for the PSP. Such wasted potential. Why, oh why can't Sony bring something like the GPS peripheral to these shores? That right there would push systems if they'd just market it to the same crowd that rush out to buy those car GPS units and never go anywhere they'd need to use the damn things. Hell, I'd buy one.

Sony was oddly short on release dates too. They made a huge point of mentioning that PS3 gamers can expect to see 120 games released this year, with 15 of those being exclusives, but they really didn't drop many hard dates.

It just seems to me that Sony didn't bring their "A" game. The recently announced $100 price drop sounds nice, but when you consider what you are getting and what you are losing, most notably backwards compatibility with many PS1 and PS2 titles, Sony still seems like a loser despite all their flashy game videos and hollow sounding promises of exclusives.


Microsoft's press conference occurred last night and was rather hit and miss. Microsoft came out big showing off demos of some pretty exciting titles, but dropped the ball on what could've been a reasonably big reveal. Microsoft really didn't have much in the way of hardware other than the reveal of the Halo 3 Xbox 360 Special Edition Console.



I'll give it to them, it's pretty. It's damn pretty. It's so pretty that not eight hours prior to the conference, I painted one of my controllers that very same color. So, is it worth it? Straight from Xbox.com:

Look for this new console in September. This new Special Edition contains these components:

* Halo 3 Special Edition Console
* Halo 3 Special Edition Wireless Controller
* Halo 3 Special Edition 20GB Hard Drive
* Halo 3 Special Edition Wired Headset
* Halo 3 Special Edition Gamer Pics and Theme (Exclusive download via Xbox LIVE)
* Component HD AV Cable
* Ethernet Cable
* HDMI Port
* Play & Charge Kit
* Xbox LIVE Silver Membership
* One-month Lbox LIVE Gold Membership
* Halo 3 game not included—sold separately

Unless the price point on this thing is around $400 max and you don't already have one, go for it. If you already have a 360, skip it. Honestly it's not really worth it to get a 20 gig OD green 360 with HDMI support. Especially since Halo 3 is not included.

The rest of the conference was focused on the games and man, oh man, are there some exciting games in the pipe. Left for Dead is like a co-op version of Dead Rising. Without the mall. And without the camp. And scarier. It looks to be one of the must haves for the co-op alone.

The geniuses from Bioware have me already with Mass Effect. Bioware does the RPG better than everyone as is evidenced by the classic Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

Splinter Cell: Conviction was announced as an exclusive. This newest iteration of the phenomenal Splinter Cell has the wonderful twist that it takes place in broad daylight. Ooooooooo.

A couple of Xbox Live Arcade Announcements caught my ear. First off, Bungie's Marathon is coming to the Arcade. Don't know what it is? Google it. Second, a title I've wanted to come to the Wii is finding a home on the Arcade with revamped graphics, Track & Field. T&F is one title I've been eagerly waiting for, and from the peek they gave last night, it looks like I may buy my first Arcade title in nearly a year. Also announced was an exclusive deal with Walt Disney Studios to bring their content film and television to the Marketplace. This, to me, is the type of deals that move systems. Xbox is trying to increase it's appeal to families, and this is definitely one way to do it.

Unlike Sony, Microsoft came to put their money where their mouth is. Microsoft demoed Rock Band, Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and Assassin's Creed. Live. No rehashed game video, live, real person behind the controller demos. That, Sony, is called balls.

If there is one thing that collectively pissed 360 gamers off everywhere, it's Gear of War. GoW is by no means new. It is however the most popular game on Xbox Live. Now, new content for GoW seems like it'd be a great thing, and it would be, if it were for the 360. GoW is going to the PC and with it's move, the PC gamers get five new levels. All three PC gamers left in the world. Dear Microsoft, GIVE US THE DAMN LEVELS!!!! Jerks. But we still love you.

And then there was Halo 3. Words can not do it justice. Go watch the high-def vid. Go. Now.

With Sony and Xbox safely mentioned, on to Nintendo. I've got to say the Nintendo conference was kind of all over the place. It started rather slow with all the bits of information that media types like to interject into their pieces. Wii's been effectively sold out for 33 weeks now. Gaming in the US is up 46% over this same time last year, 42% in the UK, 114% in Japan. 140 new DS and 100 new Wii titles by the holidays. Etc., etc., etc.

The first bit of good news was the following:



The Zapper looks cool, and especially at the $19.99 price point mentioned. Especially exciting is the mentioned "mystery title" that'll be packaged with it. Please, please, please, let me shoot that damn dog.

But, I'm torn on the Zapper. For the price, it can't be denied, but I'm not completely loving the design. First of all, I'm a shooter. Even before I was in the Army, I was shooting. I can owe the fact that I'm a crack shot with a pistol to the original Zapper that came packaged with the NES. The original Zapper actually had sights and forced you to aim, the new Zapper doesn't and the games give you a aiming cue. Add to it the odd arrangement of having the trigger on the front grip and I'm just not loving it. This design seems to favor lefties if anything. I'll still get it, but I'd much rather have something more akin to the one debuted at last year's E3:



Or even better, one like this:



Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, Medal of Honor, and Ghost Squad looks like it may be a bit fun. Now if they can come through with the 32 player multi for MoH, daaaaaaamn. My disappointment that Track & Field won't be on the Wii was alleviated by Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. Just the thought of using an overweight plumber to beat a blue hedgehog looks like so much fun.

In other Mario news, Super Smash Bros. Brawl got a date, December 3rd, so mark your calenders. Super Mario Galaxy also received a November 12th release date. And coming in nineteen short days Mario Strikers Charged runs onto the Wii. Lot of Mario love down the pipe. Including Mario Kart Wii which doesn't as of yet have a release date. But it does have the Wii Wheel. Wiiiiiii Wheeeeeeeel! Funny, but aren't there dozen of peripherals just like the Wii Wheel already out there? Well, at least it's packaged with the game.

In all the game announcements, Nintendo kept saying that "we are serious about online gaming." I heard this and said, huh? I can understand the claim that they are releasing more titles that have online components, and that's great, my problem lies in how you connect to other gamers. I'm lucky, I have a great set of online friends courtesy of the Adult Gamers United. I enjoy playing with these guys. But Nintendo makes it so damn hard to play with people you know because of those damn Wii codes. I mean come on, couldn't you have made it easier? If you're so committed to online gaming, at least fix that.

The biggest announcement, and to me the most exciting, was Wii Fit. Wii Fit is another system mover, as if Nintendo needed one. Wii Fit fits into the Nintendo philosophy that the Wii is meant to be a device for everyone in the household and that gaming should be relevant to everyone. Important to this is that everyone is healthy and Wii Fit is meant to help everyone obtain that goal. This is exciting for a fat boy like me. To accomplish this, there's the Wii Balance Board.



The WBB is a pressure sensitive, wireless controller for use with the Wii Fit title. The WBB is used in various activities that focus on aerobic exercise, muscle development, yoga, and balance. Additionally, the device weighs you, but rather than display your weight for all the household to see, Wii Fit displays your Body Mass Index, or BMI.



So, what have we learned today? Nothing really. E3 is all about showcasing what's on the horizon. But, the horizon looks promising. Here's to all of us spending our better half's money on the pixelated joy we love so much.

E3 2007

It has begun in earnest. Watching eagerly. Lots to share soon.

A haiku

Broken and tired,
Facing an unwanted task,
Misery awaits.

The Status Quo

As gamers, we have come to expect certain things over the years. Want to play a sports title? Then you'll owe your soul to EA. Looking for a decent shooter? Almost anything with Tom Clancy's name on it is the best. But, do you want to play a good game based on a movie? Good luck.

Recently Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer arrived on my doorstep. With this summer of blockbusters, how do these games based on the films stack up? Well, let's just see shall we.

Fantastic Four is a game in the same ilk as Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. The player controls one of four on-screen members of the Fantastic Four which all populate the screen at the same time. The action in the game is, well, lacking. A lot. Graphically it's nice to look at, but nothing can save the awful voice acting, horrible camera angles, and lackluster gameplay. I can't speak as to it's accuracy as compared to the storyline of the film of the same name, but I can tell you this, if the game is in anyway indicative of the quality of the film, best wait to rent it. That goes for the game too.

Now, as for our young Mister Potter. I am a fan. I read the books. I've seen the films. I'm absolutely salivating at the chance to see the big screen treatment of OoTP, so to say that I was looking forward to playing this one would be a gross understatement.

However, much like Harry while he is at #4 Privit Drive, my soul was crushed. The first thing that struck me was just how incredibly bad the graphics are in this title. I mean this looks like middle of the road type of stuff from the last generation of consoles. And that goes for the 360 version as well. It's just bad. At least the character models look somewhat like their real life counterparts. Sadly, the characters sound nothing like their real life counterparts either. That's sadly one of the universal truths in video games, most movie games do not have the actor's voices in them.

I had high hopes for the control system given that you wave your Wiimote like a wand, but after a short while, all I wanted to do was smash at things like I had a Blugger. The aiming system and auto lock-on features leave a lot to be desired and are easily confused.

As for the gameplay, well, let me put it this way. Today's word boys and girls is tedious. Can you say tedious? As Harry, you'll be expected to roam Hogwart's with the help of the Maurader's Map to find your fellow members of the DA. This process alone can take hours. Yes, hours. Members of the DA are scattered throughout the grounds of Hogwart's and if they are on the opposite side of the map from you, pack a lunch 'cause it's going to take a while to get there. The combat in the game is just as tedious. You'll have more success just wildly flailing your arms at the screen. Oh, and don't make the mistake of starting any of the min-games while you are roaming. Once started, there isn't a way to back out of them.

Even though the film isn't out quite yet, I can guarantee it'll be better than this. Another rental at best. Even fans of the Potter series will be hard pressed to find a reason to keep this one.

My apologies

Things are not going well right now. My apologies to anyone that reads this crap. In the meantime, this makes it's debut at Watkins Glen on August 12th and then again at Dover on September 23rd.

Thankfully it's a Roush car.

A solution?

Is it possible to find one? And if so, is the one I'm considering it?

More of the same

Things are no better.

In happier news, HH2 is mere days away from rolling over. Next stop, crawling.

Vindication

I hate being right all the time.

It's just something I'm able to do. Maybe it's a lifelong love of psychology, but somehow, I'm always right. Only this time I wish I weren't. This time is different.

I can't, and won't go into detail, so don't bother asking. In time, I will share what I was right about and what has come of it, but not now. This goes not only for you, my dear reader, but also for any family or friends that read my drivel.

And speaking of those that read my drivel, much thanks for the shout out by Tattooed Dad. I'm a big fan of his blog and read it everyday. You'll find him added to my list 'o blogs to the left and down a bit. Check it out.

Happy Legalized Explosives Day

Try not to lose a finger.

Oh, and I got Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer yesterday. Thoughts soon.

Pokemon Battle Revolution

Well, I've spent a good bit of time on Pokemon Battle Revolution (PBR). First off let me preface by saying I am not really qualified to review this title. You see, I'm not a nine year old boy. Pokemon was always something that was targeted at folks much younger than me. With the absolute juggernaut of merchandising, cartoons, movies, and video games, one only need open their eyes to see the appeal to children. In fact, there's a tale I can tell about Pokemon, but that'll have to wait.

That being said...

PBR features a number of firsts. It's the first Pokemon game for the Wii. First online title for gamers in the Americas. First game to wirelessly link to the Nintendo DS. First Wii title to allows users to use their DS as a controller. Not a bad pedigree to start.

Players are immersed in the theme-park Poketopia to take part in battling their various characters. Poketopia serves as the central nexus of the game, allowing players access to the various battle arenas. First stop, as with any other game, is the creation of the character that you choose to play with. The selection here is a little shallow, with players only really given a hand full of options. But the Pokemon titles have never been about trainer development, but rather advancing with their Pokemon and battling other players. In order to participate in battles, players have to have a "Battle Pass." Passes take one of two forms, either a custom pass or a rental pass. Gamers that own Pokemon Diamond or Pokemon Pearl for use the Pokemon they've captured in their DS titles in the game for the Wii. This is just the kind of innovation that gamers love, but causes parents of younger gamers to want to scream. Case in point, my brothers-in-law.

6 has two little brothers from her dad and stepmom. This last trip down to see them, all they could tell me about was how excited they were to get PBR as soon as possible since they could use their Pokemon from Diamond and Pearl (they both have DSs and they have both games). It struck me that this is the another one of those innovations that Nintendo really has smacked out of the ballpark. Gamers have always lusted after the ability to take their games on the go, and while hand held gaming is nothing new, this kind of thing is just what gamers want.

And yet, I don't have Pokemon Diamond or Pearl. So I, like others, get stuck with the rental pass. The rental pass is for gamers that don't own either DS title and allows them to choose their Pokemon from Pokemon available in the game. The lack a more robust selection of Pokemon to choose from made me feel as if I were missing out on half of the fun of the game.

With battle pass in possession, players are then free to move on to one of the three battle arenas in the game. Aside from the different backgrounds, there really isn't much difference in the arenas itself. One particularly annoying aspect of the battles can be the announcer, but thankfully, he can be turned off. As to the battle themselves, the combat is turn based with players selecting which Pokemon to use and what move to make when their time comes.

And that's pretty much the game. There's a market out there for Pokemon titles, and I'm not it. This is the kind of game for the ankle biters that salivate over the cartoons and merchandise. They get it. I don't. And I don't think any other adult gamer really will. Granted there is gameplay available over the internet, but it's region restricted (a move that I still don't understand) and you won't really meet many others playing, so that's a gig against it.

In short, it's not a terrible title, but it's definitely for a specific market. So if you're a nine year old boy, or you have one in your household, give it a whirl. But be prepared to purchase Pokemon Diamond or Pearl for your DS while you're at it.