Musings – Page 204

Daily Destin… The New Screwattack Guy… Meh…

So there have been some ruckus on the Gametrailer forums regarding the newest Screwattackee, Daily Destin. Destin is the current host of SA’s weekdaily Hard News show, which he actually does a good job at. The source of the hatred towards him, however, stems from his video game vaults. People there are brutal by his performances and have said everything negative that can be said about a person.

So what do I think of the new guy?

I think that Destin should stick with Hard News. While I don’t think he did badly on the few Vaults that he did do, I don’t believe he should be thrust into a high position this soon. He did write a couple Vaults and maybe he should stick with that.

Having said that, I’m willing to give Destin a chance. I am not ready to outright accept him as a second voice to the VGVs – considering the guy he’s replacing did such a smooth job of them – but perhaps as he grows into the role and becomes a counter to Craig’s goofiness, I’ll be a little more lenient.

The Neo Geo Pocket Color Saga

For five points, please guess the appropriate response from a typical gamer who is only impressed by the latest tech. Answers to follow, but really, you should know these.

1 – I got a PSP.

2 – I got a DS.

3 – I got a GBA.

4 – I got a Game Boy.

5 – I got a Neo Geo Pocket Color.

Think on that for a bit before going ahead.

Continue reading “The Neo Geo Pocket Color Saga”

The Game Herpes… I Mean Heroes (Also, Smallville).

Went to a couple restaurants for Mother’s Day. Ate some really sweet grub in one and had nice coffee & cake in another. Good meals followed by several fifteen-minute sessions in the crapper. Nice.

Just about the only good thing about Father’s Day is that my dad doesn’t like going to restaurants, so we can order cheaper take-out that doesn’t induce a shitfest.

Anyway, some blurbs and stuff.

Handsome Tom’s new podcast series has been going on for a while and I gotta say; for a test run, this doesn’t seem to bad. They don’t have much of a site at the moment, but what they do have is pretty damn entertaining for the most part, unlike Tom’s previous website of work, which is starting to lose its luster due to the unfunny and uninteresting stuff being brought in.

But that other site has something Tom doesn’t have: the Angry Video Game Nerd… but then to see him, I go to Gametrailers and… ugh. Check out the Game Heroes here. (2019 Update: Link No Longer Valid.)

In other news, word has it that Allison Mack, who starred in Smallville since its first episode, is considering leaving the show over money issues. This after it was announced that two other central cast members announced that they would leaving the show. You know, rather than having another season, maybe we should… oh, I don’t know… cancel it? I mean, it’s nice that we have a Superman series that is lasting this long, but really, it’s getting ridiculous having to introduce all these Superman characters and concepts… long before Clark Kent even dons the fucking tights!

Another source claims that to replace the departing Lex Luthor, Smallville will be bringing in Doomsday… oh, well that’s just great. What are they going to do now? Film the Death of Clark Kent and follow up with reign of the Clark Kents, featuring Eradicator Clark, Cyborg Clark, Steel Clark, and Supe… Er… Boy…….. um, never mind. Just screw it.

Nick Hogan Goes To Jail… Good

Hulk Hogan’s son Nick, who was involved in a terrible car accident that crippled Nick’s passenger, was recently sentenced to eight months in jail. Well, looks like there are some things even Hulkamania and its political clout can prevent. Just as well.

How sad is it that such an actual real-life tragedy that involved an individual losing any semblance of their former self could be reduced to a quick quip. This sort of thing is nothing to laugh or joke about… but when it comes to the Hogans, who think that everyone is beneath them, seeing one of them eat a bit of humble pie does nothing but put a smile on my face. Nick did something stupid and now he’s paying for it, rightfully so.

Thoughts and prayers go to the other fellow.

Getting Simon’s Quest

Interestingly enough, my memory is somewhat sketchy of what games I actually own on the NES.

For quite some time, I had assumed that I had all three NES Castlevania games. I certainly know this to be true since Simon’s Quest was the first ‘Vania I ever got. Somewhere along the line, it got lost somewhere and I never saw it again. So among the shopping for random NES titles, I made it a point to hunt down Simon’s Quest, even if I had to force myself to get it from eBay.

But as luck would have it, a gaming store in downtown Montreal had a copy of the game in their NES rack. It was a bit pricey for my tastes, but in the end, it was worth. The circle is complete. One less “vital” addition to my collection of vintage games.

First Impressions – Circle of The Moon (GBA)

(2023 Update: In retrospect, calling this post a “First Impressions” is kind of a white lie, since my first time playing Circle Of The Moon would’ve been years prior, albeit through the “evil art” of emulation. My guess is that I had acquired an actual cart of Circle Of The Moon and wrote this shortly afterwards. So, in a sense, it’s my first impressions of the game played on its native hardware rather than though some spotty emulation… that’s my logic behind it, at least.)

Some time after Konami released Symphony of the Night on the Playstation, they released Castlevania 64… and it sucked. So they released a sequel… and it sucked too. A couple non-significant games later, Konami released their first GBA title, Circle of the Moon.

The story revolves around a trio of Vampire hunters attempting to kill Dracula yet again, only to be separated. As Nathan, you have to save the other hunter before he becomes a sacrifice or something. In any case, you’re equipped with a traditional leather whip and can spin it around like a lasso (but can’t brandish it like in CV4). You can also equip yourself with DSS cards that alters your whip to become flame whips, ice whips, poison whips, and even a gun! Neat-o.

The graphics are fairly decent for a first title and are varied from each other. Sure, most of the halls look alike, but it’s a common flaw even with Symphony in a couple levels, so no complaints there. The controls are responsive and the challenge is fair, with only a couple bosses being complete pricks. While it isn’t as expansive as the later GBA titles, at least this one has a decent soundtrack worthy of the GBA, unlike the later “sequels” and its NES-esque soundtracks.

If you have a GBA hanging around and you want a decent Castlevania game, don’t bother with the other two and get this one. Aria may have that Soul trading thing and Lament has Simon’s grandson, but this is actually the better game of the three.

Warrior Returns To Wrestling Wearing Suspenders

(2019 Update: Amazed that the video link still works. And so here it is in an embedded format.)

Warrior made his return to a wrestling ring some time ago at a NWE event in Europe. When Orlando Jordan shows up to heckle a young fan, Warrior beats the crap out of him in vintage Ultimate-style. He does his usual shtick (shaking on the wobbly ropes, pounding his chest like a madman) and gets a decently good reaction.

Looks like he hasn’t lost a beat. Not that what he did required much of a beat to lose, but whatever.

There’s two trains of thought in this: the longtime fan who grew up watching the Warrior will get a kick out of his long awaited return – and I mean that sincerely, since Warrior’s last stint in wrestling was less than a decade ago. And the guy who didn’t watch the Warrior, haven’t heard of the Warrior, or even care for the Warrior will be asking “Who the fuck is this guy? And why is he ripping off Batista?”

And then there’s the other train of thought that remembers his speeches… the less said, the better. In any event, who cares? I’ve embedded the video for the rest of us to share in the experience.

Welcome back, Warrior.

When? You Mean You Didn’t Know…?

At an undisclosed press junket, Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada sat before a bunch of random journalists and field questions.

“So, Joe,” one reporter asked. “Marvel has all these overblown event storylines coming up? When do you suppose Marvel will go back to normal stories not requiring extensive readings?”

“You mean when are our books going to suck again,” Quesada joked.

The quip got a bit of chuckle from the audience before another reporter spoke out. “You know it’s funny you’d say that because I kinda thought the books were already sucking since Civil War. Brand New Day? World War Hulk? Red Hulk? Another fucking Skrull storyline? What the hell, man? Whatever happened to the good old days of Marvel when you weren’t fucking with the status quo?”

The question raised some boos, and Quesada answered that “At the end of the day, what it means to me, is that our stuff is so compelling that you want to get it. My job and Dan’s job and all our jobs here are to make you want to buy everything we put out.”

“But that’s the thing,” another reporter asked. “Your stuff isn’t that compelling now. In fact, your stuff is so fucking boring and terrible that it’s not even worth pirating. How does that make you feel about producing shitty-ass stories charging people five bucks a pop to suffer through incredible stories such as Bucky as Captain America or Marvel Apes? Marvel Fucking Apes? Are you a fucking moron, man?!”

Fine. Fine. I’ll just give my money to DC.

DTM BLOG Classics #36 – NES Buyer’s Guide For Those Wanting To Relive Nintendo’s golden boy

Originally DTM Blog Post #828

It’s probably not too evident (or maybe it is) to some people, but I enjoy the old retro video games from the 1980s-90s moreso than I do the current next-gen ones. They’re simple, fun to play, and focus more on being great games than being pretty ones with lots of extraneous features. Suffice it to say I’d rather pay fifty bucks for a copy of Super Mario All-Stars than I would playing the latest FPS game focused on aliens trying to take over the universe and an online component I almost never use. And ever since I picked up the FC Twin console back in October 2007, I’ve been on the retro-kick for the most part. To think I almost forked five hundred bucks for a Wii, a classic controller, and some Wii points just to play the much-vaunted Virtual Console. Woo – just what I needed in my life, a motion-sensored remote control to swing around like an idiot and pray to God I don’t let go or the strap breaks so that the stupid thing smashes into my TV or someone’s nutsack.

Continue reading “DTM BLOG Classics #36 – NES Buyer’s Guide For Those Wanting To Relive Nintendo’s golden boy”

This Is What It Comes Down To…

So Screwattack has posted another video on their site: one called “A Day In The Life of Screwattack.” Anyone thinking this would be a nice look in the back would be disappointed to find that it’s just Jose running out in the snow without his shirt on and jiggling his man-tits. Some found funny, but I found it… meh.

What happened to videos where they go to cool video game stores or show off peoples’ games collection? Even the clips of the weeks have degraded into nothing more than obscene comedy pieces. As much as I want to support these guys through their own site instead of their GameTrailers videos, I can’t really do that when they’re trying too hard to be a lousy sitcom.

What happened to the site that was supposed to be about video games and fun? Because I’ve been seeing neither as of late.

Man, I miss Tom. When is the GameHeroes coming up?