I was really excited to see a Lion King world show up in Kingdom Hearts 2, since Simba didn't have much to do in the first one. I'd love to see a Making Of for this game, because I would no doubt be fascinated to hear what movies were chosen and why. I'm guessing existing licensing issues and synergy initiatives govern much of it.

For example, the inclusion of Tron... but we'll get to that in a minute.

The only drag for the Pride Land is that you jump into the story during the halfway point, when Simba is off screwing around with Pumbaa and Timon. I was rather looking forward to some Young Simba levels, the version of the character that everyone on the planet prefers. And where's Zazu, dammit?

I'm a big fan of the worlds that necessitate a costume change, and Pride Land offers the most drastic one yet: a full transformation into animals. Makes you wonder why all the worlds don't do this. Surely Agrabah could come up with some kind of breezy Persian number for Sora and Company.

A coupla' weeks ago, I noticed that I was getting some traffic from Board Game Geek, a site I had not visited personally in years. In fact, I can prove it has been years, because I found the only time I ever submitted anything to the site - a report on the board game Survive from July 2001. That report is so old that it actually predates the site having user logins.

Anyway, turns out that surprise traffic into fourhman.com was because somebody added my card games to the BGG database. As if they're real, actual games or something. With my name listed as game designer, spelled correctly and everything.

So, I'm flattered.

TaleSpin Volume 1 DVD set is released at the end of this month. Amazon is taking pre-orders at $23, which is over $10 under MSRP. You can even combo it with Darkwing Duck Volume 1 for $46.

Last month X-Play (increasingly irrelevant G4's increasingly irrelevant game review show) did some special episodes where they counted down the top ten games for all three systems.

Of course, no such list is going to be the end-all for all gamers (no Kingdom Hearts? no Paper Mario? no Final Fantasy? no LEGO Star Wars? no Fatal Frame, even for me?), but there are some undercurrents in the lists that I wanted to point out.

I've pretty much resigned myself to only playing on Thursday nights with the gate open... and some weeks not even that happens. I no longer talk to villagers, and I've stopped caring about weeds. Both my personal relationships and my landscaping are in disrepair. I'm more or less done with Wild World.

Which is sad, considering that I haven't even played the game for a full year yet. Haven't seen all the bugs and fish. But like I've said repeatedly, Nintendo did a lousy job of keeping the game relevant over time, resulting in a game far less compelling than the GameCube original (which, admittedly, generated more traction out of the sheer novelty of it all). Crappy holidays, meager WiFi capabilities, soul-crushing randomness, slow-to-no online community building.

So why do I still anticipate the Wii edition with the heat of a thousand suns, given no outstanding proof that Nintendo has learned anything from the experience? That's the fanboy in me.

All the games in today's entry were picked up during a Buy 2 / Get 1 Free sale at Toys R Us. Guess which one was the impulse free game.

I'm pretty much going to agree with X-Play and call San Andreas the Best PS2 Game Ever (and remember, I'm calling this with God of War 2 sight unseen, sarcasm.) It's not the best in graphics. It's not the best in story. It's not the best in innovation or art direction or music. But it is the best in overall gameplay. This is a game to get lost within.

With the previous GTA games, I've already mentioned the easy addiction of the free-world sandbox, the multitude of sidebar games, and the effortless combination of driving and on-ground action. San Andreas takes everything prior and doubles it... with a genuinely gigantic environment that somehow remains detailed and alive without a single loading pause. You can't think of this game without marveling at the diversity of locale, from mean streets to redwood forest to casino-bloated deserts. Not to mention the absurd levels of character customization. Or the undocumented two-player modes.

Sure, you can quibble about the low-poly models, the subjective music soundtracks, the still-wonked aiming controls... but nothing on the racks brings as much game - with as much variety - for your money as San Andreas. This series comes with a lot of crushing hype and unfavorable media, but it has f'ing earned it.

After playing GTA3, back when the series was just one awesome game, my only request was more of everything. San Andreas delivered.

Memory Score: Flying still sucks.

I'm enjoying Marvel's Civil War and Civil War: Front Line books, even under the nagging premonition that, like House of M, Civil War is likely to not actually end within the scope of the core miniseries. And when I say "end," I mean "return the Marvel U to the status quo, like most every other big name multi-hero crossover storyline." Betting man that I am, I think that Marvel is going to let the Registration Act stand so that all the books get the fun of dealing with the ramifications of the Act for a year or so, before formally repealing it in another big event To Be Named Later.

Similar to how DC is letting Infinite Crisis drain out into 52, the dangling "New Earth" question, and the One Year Later books. What can you do; it's a good business strategy. As a comics publisher, you'd have to be an idiot to NOT take the advantage of a heavily promoted, mega-popular crossover storyline and turn it into a spray of new series and minis.

Although, say what you will about Infinite Crisis, at least it did end. There is enough denouement in the final issue to happily wrap up all the major plot threads (and if you want to know more, that's what the semi-sequels are for). Compare that to House of M, which ends on a smegging cliffhanger. The feeling I got at the end of that one was that Marvel had crossed the line between Ending a Good Story and Tricking Me Into Buying Another Story.

It's that time of year again...

Time for Camp Hyrule, Nintendo's weirdass online fanboy orgy. WoFo, for short.

This is my third year. Both previous years had a definite Zelda theme going on. This year, it's gone all outer space... presumably in celebration of Super Mario Galaxy, a future Wii title that is not even a launch release. Although you might be forgiven for being reminded more than a little of Katamari.

I'm in Cabin 7, as StocDred. (Or, as one chat room member fumbled, "Storecred," which is now officially the best SD variant I've ever seen. And I MUSHed under that handle, so I saw plenty.) The chief concern for Day One at Camp Hyrule is naming your cabin, which is just a toxic mess of forum spew that is best not trifled with. I got to the discussion board too late to submit a reasonably hilarious name, so here's what won:

WTF. "Cabin We Are Currently Experiencing High Volume Or Technical Difficulties." Seriously.

With Camp the cabin name chosen (poorly), there was a whole lot less "ZOMG WTF IS OUR CABIN NAME VOTE NOW" going on today. The official cabin flag was also chosen, and it's actually not a bad choice. It shows a loading bar and says "Your flag is still being processed." I'll probably post a picture of it tomorrow once the cabin mascot is selected.

None of my designs from yesterday were selected for the Best Of page, which sucks. I'd link you out to it, but I'm pretty sure you need to be a registered camper to see it.

Today's tasks:

Icon design. The winners of the icon design challenge become official Camp Hyrule chat/forum avatars. What a nice claim to immortality. I phoned in this image of Static from Animal Crossing, because I can't get enough of that guy's depressing expression.

Mascot. The winning submission will be stapled on the Welcome to Cabin 7 page, along with the winning flag design. I think you'll agree my mascot is sufficiently incredible.

I am giving you pure gold here, people.

Today Cabin 7 rose to third place on the Camp Hyrule leaderboard (we were in fourth yesterday.) We're still 80 points behind the first place cabin, Cabin 8 - The Sages of the Wii Republic (I wonder why they didn't go for "Wii-public"?). Cabin 9 (the Cabin at the End of the Universe) is in second, falling from first. So it's pretty much a battle between 8 and 9 at this point. I'm not confident that an 80 point gap is surmountable at this stage, especially given that 8 and 9 are so close (less than 10 points difference) and are likely psyching their rabble up to levels that are dangerous even to fanboys.

So this is Cabin 7 with the award-winning flag and mascot designs. Kind of a dumb decision to map them to the spacepod because now you can't see what the hell they are. Here they are in all their un-skewed glory:

The flag is clever enough, given our awful name. The mascot, although it is garish, is also in theme. This "Error" chap is an internet meme culled from some probable bad Engrish in Zelda II.

As predicted, Cabins 8 and 9 moved even further into the lead, although 9 is now ahead 2526 to 2497. We're still in third with 2362 points, and fourth place (Cabin 3) has 2153. Anyone in fourth or lower has no chance in hell of winning the race by Friday morning.

Although today's tasks were all worth double points, I don't anticipate much movement in the top three slots. So even I did technically perform all of the assigned activities, mine were all mediocre efforts.

Pokemon artwork. Like yesterday's Zelda challenge, this is just a callout for anything vaguely Pokemonesque. You're probably supposed to actually DRAW something, but whatever. You might recognize my Pokemon photo from this year's Origins trip. I just added some mysterious Unown text to it.

Face painting. NOA_Rufus is the final victim, and I reverted back to the same political protest that I used at Camp Hyrule '05: bitching about Nintendo never legally unlocking SMB, Zelda, and Punch-Out in the original Animal Crossing. I plan to make this my own little Camp tradition.

The final day of camp means that there is nothing to do but wait around for the Closing Ceremonies, where they announce the final point totals and the recipients of the official popularity contests.

As you can see, it played out exactly as I predicted. At Camp Hyrule, if you're not a strong performer right out of the gate, you might as well stop trying.

Also note that the prizes are all virtual again - which just makes my Stumpy tee from last year all the more special. Once word got out about Nintendo giving out winners' t-shirts last year, there was plenty of sour grapes about the e-garbage from this year.

First of all, thanks for all the fun. #2 was a hell of a lot more action-oriented (love the addition of the Reaction Commands!) than the original, with more to do and lots of great improvements. The menu commands are easier to use, the battle camera isn't as crazy, and the RPG elements (item synthesis, ability customization) have been streamlined to the point that most humans might actually use them. Not to mention that the Gummi Ship stuff is 200% better and could be the core of its own separate game.

Of course, as a Disney geek, I'm extremely pleased with the inclusion of the Pride Land and Timeless River and all the little Disneyana touches. (The worlds for Tron and Pirates of the Caribbean, although interesting, smell a little much of imposed corporate synergy.) And now I can tell all my friends that I fought beside Minnie Mouse.

But there are some critical flaws here that I need you to address before you venture forth into another chapter. If, indeed, you do intend such a thing. The combined story of KH1 and 2 is so nicely packaged that a third, similar outing might seem superfluous. (Yes, I have seen the secret preview trailer ending - no, I didn't earn it - but I'm reserving comment just yet. It seems very bleak and dystopian and non-Disney... but so did Deep Dive, the secret preview trailer ending for KH2. And looking back, damned if Deep Dive doesn't make sense now.)

Anyway, here's what you should know.

It's hard to get excited about Justice League revamps, since they happen with alarming frequency. I wish DC would get over the whole faux reboot thing and just let the title live on. They only have, like, three books that have held consistent numbering for longer than five years. Everything else gets rebooted to #1 constantly.

So, if this cover is to believed, this is the new JLA. Post-Infinite Crisis, post-52, One Year Later. Or, Red Tornado could get blown up by page 13.

First impression: I am so done with Michael Turner pinup covers. The guy is overplayed to the extreme, especially when all he's told to do is crap out an impossible standing/floating group scene. I think I know why Hal's ring is flashing; he's busy willing a set of bleachers. I could go the rest of my life and not see anything by that guy ever again.

The latest OPM demo disk has the long awaited LEGO Star Wars 2 demo... which is the first time there's been something worthwhile on that disk for months. Rhonda and I played it for two hours last night, unlocking (I think) all but one thing.

The demo purports to be level 3 of A New Hope, covering the moment Luke and Ben drive in to Mos Eisley until the point when the gang takes off in the Falcon. So if that's level 3, what's 1 and 2? 1 could be a rehash of the secret Episode 4 level from the first LEGO Star Wars, perhaps done from Princess Leia's point of view. And I'll bet 2 is some kind of Luke-searching-for-R2 level.

Once you beat the level, the demo lets you Free Play it with a full roster of playable characters... including a Womp Rat! This is Star Wars history here, folks: a playable Womp Rat! The demo even includes a build-a-character feature, which I'll assume is pared down from the full version. As you can see from the phone screenshot, Rhonda put the Slave Leia head on Han's fashionable vest. And I made a Jedi Bith with Boba Fett's torso and Greedo's arms.

After enjoying all three N64 Mario Party editions, I was psyched for the sub-franchise's next-gen debut. I was imagining the cheerful board game fun combined with visuals at Super Smash Bros. Melee quality.

And I really didn't get that.

The board game worlds - which formerly explored fantastical 3D terrain themed to birthday cakes and pirate ships - were flat and abstract, with SNES-style tiled backgrounds. The mini-games were what they were, but there simply was not enough of them... and the board game itself introduced this confusing "mini-mega system," where you had to shrink to take path A, and grow to take path B. Which meant I had to waste fifteen minutes of playtime explaining the concept to players who just wanted to roll the die and get to a mini-game match.

The only good thing about Mario Party 4 is that the end of single-layer mode faces you against Bowser in a private challenge that was quite a leap for the series.

Ya hear that? The only good thing about this *Mario Party* is a small portion of the *single player mode*.

That's worse than a Sonic game where you have to constantly stop running (which we'll get to in January of '04).

Memory Score: The worst Mario Party ever.

I'm way behind on Comics Commenting (I used to call this feature Word Balloons, but that sucked) so I'm just going to catch up with some broad swoops through the books I picked up last week.

52 - I have to admit, I'm not giving this series a very close reading. Until browsing the excellent 52 Pickup weblog, I didn't even notice that Booster Gold had committed that old time-traveller's standard: unwittingly making your own history. I guess I'm relying on other DC fans (with weblogs) to do my analysis for me. The current theory is that the Booster we've been seeing in 52 isn't even the Booster we saw in Infinite Crisis - which would make sense, because he seemed so capable and mature in IC - but I can't honestly say that that occurred to me.

In practice, though, I'm noticing that the whole "real time" thing doesn't mean very much. Yeah, I guess it's neat that each week in the comic is a week in real time... but who really cares? It's just a good read, very Robert Altman-esque in the way it weaves between so many B-grade DCU characters.

So don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying it. It's a "save" book every week... one that floats to the bottom of the pile after I read the books that are either A) so good that I have to read them first, or B) so mediocre that I have to read them first to get them out of the way. It's a complicated system.

This was a four player game of TaleSpin, with a goal of four cargo. I was Baloo, Josh was Karnage, Tony was Kit, and Whitney was welcomed into the ranks of TaleSpinners by playing Molly. (The hilarious picture is from this Photoshop contest page and was created by a fellow called Majordano.)

ROUND ONE
Don Karnage kicks off the game by playing Becky and Ignatz as passengers. He rolls low, so he can only move to the Cliff Guns (which he shot at Kit) and play cargo.

Kit sends pilot Mad Dog after Karnage (who bows out with a Strategic Withdrawl). Then Kit plays one of everyone's favorite new cards, The Press (the fourth estate lets you name a card at the end of your turn, and if anyone has that card in their hand, they must discard it. Yeah, I know it relies on the honor system, but it's still fun.) Kit ends his turn by moving to the Air Platform and playing cargo.

Baloo attacks Kit, who amicably refuses to dogfight so Baloo draws his two free cards. No passengers to play, so Baloo moves to the Loading Dock and played cargo.

Molly has what is probably her best turn of the game (unfortunately.) She sends Ace London after Don Karnage and opens his sole (fake) cargo. During all of this, Kit plays I Got Your Shot All Lined Up and grabs Strafing Run from the discard pile. Molly ends her turn by moving to the Cliff Guns (Baloo takes the hit this time) and playing cargo.