Category: Musings

Somehow Snagged Ninja Gaiden II (the old one)

Yes, by “old one”, I am in fact refering to the the NES video game and not the recent XBox 360 version with five hundred different attacks but none of them very effective against insanely difficult opponents who seem to have ten million better attacks than you. Now, some smart-ass might be thinking “eBay” but I don’t go to eBay for my gaming goods. Mostly because I still do not have a credit card… or anything necessary to obtain a PayPal account. Instead, I scour flea markets and thrift shops for my gaming needs. Insane, isn’t it?

So yeah, the chances of getting my hands on a Ninja Gaiden original NES game (for ten bucks no less) was pretty fucking minimal… but somehow it happened. Plays fairly well, still can’t get past the second stage with the snow storm, but that’s okay. I got time… oh yes I do.

Cheap Xbox 360 Is Now Cheaper

According to gamedame.com and confirmed by Microsoft, the 20GB XBox 360 model has dropped its price to $299US. Taking the place of the old $349US price tag is a newer model that comes equipped with a 60GB hard drive. If the newer model also comes with no red ring of death, I’m sold. Of course, you still have the Arcade package and Elite consoles, which are both the same price, so… if you’ve been holding out on getting a Xbox 360, you have a cheap alternative now.

Flair Finance No More & No Love For TNA

Sometime last year, Ric Flair started a financing company. A year later, said company is now out of business and the site now has contact information for anyone who wants to book Ric. Yeah, that’s a bit of a fair trade. “Hey, kids. Ric Flair Finance is out of business, but to make for it, you can book Ric Flair to be on your show and then receive a note from WWE preventing Ric from appearing.”

Still, it’s always sad to see a venture go down the crapper. And I would have thought Ric would have done fairly well in financing. Oh well.

There appears to be at least one disgruntled wrestler within TNA according to rajah.com. A TNA wrestler currently in the midst of a push made the following remark to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter: “Impact sucks so much I don’t even watch myself on television anymore.”

Well, we can say for sure that anonymous TNA wrestler isn’t totally bashing the company. After all, he only says that Impact suck and not necessarily the entire promotion or any of its storylines. Although to be honest, I’m not entirely surprised if the guy really feels that way about TNA.

On the bright side, CM Punk is still your World Heavyweight Champion… so there, some good news today.

VIDEO – Mega Man The 9th

You can find the article here, along with the Nintendo Power scan which confirms its legitimacy. So now let me offer my own thoughts:

OH MY GAWD! DEY’RE MAKING’ MEGA MAN 9! CLASSIC MEGA MAN 9! HOORAY! A REAL GAME! CLASSIC MEGA MAN 9! YAY! I’M SO HAPPEEEEEEEE!!!! EXCITING! I’M GOING TO PISS MY SHORTS RIGHT HERE! YAY!

Okay, sorry about that. But yeah, that’s exciting. And even better, they’re going to make the game similar to the NES games – just the way it should be. The only thing that would make this piece of news even better is if it was released for an actual NES… you know, so I can actually play it.

Better start saving up.

Oddball Gaming Purchases

I had recently purchased a copy of an old NES game called Stinger, which looked to be a sequel or spin-off to that Twin Bee game I’ve played on the multicarts. Never really played it, but it came in an actual box! Amazing.

So I get home and popped the sucker into my FC Twin and pushed the power on. It was then I saw something was wrong.

For you see, the game I bought wasn’t a shoot-em-up called Stinger, but a shoot-em-up called Tiger Heli. It’s not a bad game by any means; just not the one I wanted to pick up.

So yeah, I feel ripped off – but on the other hand, it makes a good joke to play on someone who wants a “classic” game.

Also, while we’re on the subject of oddball gaming purchases, I picked up a copy of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom for NES… despite a whole bunch of people making videos about how bad the game is. I’ll probably post a review of the game (written form), but I highly recommend checking out the three-part Terrible NES Games Theatre review done by ericmansuper – it’s perhaps the most in-depth and downright entertaining video reviews I’ve seen. Just look it up on YouTube and you’ll find it quick.

Another Contest, Vince?

Haven’t bashed WWE in a while now, so let’s have some fun.

Tonight is the second Million Dollar contest, where a bunch of random fans will be eligible to win thousands of dollars (with one lucky fan possibly winning two dollars – yes, I’m serious). I don’t know about you, but I had such a good time watching the Million Dollar mayhem (sarcasm, of course – although LOL at Vince being rick rolled) that I immediately switched to an older Ring of Honor show that was airing on the Fight Network.

Yeah, Vince. I’m really looking forward to tonight’s publicity stunt as well as your ongoing quest to devote as little time and money as possible to the contract wrestlers that risk their lives to keep you in business.

Top notch, man!

The Power Of Pro Wrestling Illustrated (And The Bite) Compels You!

So I am currently working to restore the 2003 Bite commentaries to the archive and I came across this tidbit from the January 15th, 2003 edition of the Bite.

I’ve purchased the March 2003 issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated. One particular piece in it is called Talkin’ Trash. Supposedly, they take the ten most talked-about things in wrestling and sum up their gut reaction. For the first time ever, I’ll put three of those topics here and follow it up with my own brief comment.

VINCE MCMAHON MENTIONS POSSIBILITY OF BRINGING BACK ECW
PWI states: Yeah, that’s exactly what we need, a third half-assed brand under the WWE banner.
Dave Says: If Vince McMahon mentions a possibility of bringing back ECW, there’s an even better possibility he’s full of shit. Remember all that talk about bringing back WCW in June 2001 before the Invasion crap?

Five years later and what do we have? A half-assed brand under the WWE banner that happens to bare the ECW initials but has nothing to do with the original ECW product, thus not bringing back anything and proving that Vince was indeed full of shit.

Bow, puny fools. Bow before me… and PWI.

(2024 Update: To be fair, the fact that ECW turned out to be less of a revival of the “original” ECW and more of a reskinned bottom-tier WWE show shouldn’t have been much of a surprise to anyone with even a quarter-functioning brain who has followed WWE on and off air for ages. Neither the Apter mags nor the Meltzer rags were required to make this prediction in the first place.)

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”