New DC Super Friends line SHOCKS Fourhmans at Toys R Us.
I've long bemoaned the lack of a DC counterpart to the Marvel Super Squad line... fun, kid-friendly two-inch figures covering a nice range of the Marvel U (Punisher in his Captain America costume! For serious!) And then this weekend we spot a tiny, happy li'l Batman as part of Fisher-Price's long-running Imaginext line.
In addition to the expected multi-Batmen figures, there's separately packaged Penguin, Joker and Superman, and a huge Batcave playset that comes with Robin and another Batman. We picked up one of the Batmen and the Penguin. I suspect Pengy to be short-packed.
You know, I read ToyFare. I read websites that cover comics and I read websites that cover toys. Why did I have no idea that these were coming out? By the way, we still haven't seen any of the second wave Super Friends figs... from whence we'll get Hawkman and Cyborg.
Chulip down to $10 new at GameStop.
This isn't especially notable except that Chulip was a GameStop-exclusive game, and that it needs to be seen by more people. Note that I did not say "played." Chulip will eat your ass.
Also note that the game is super-flaky and you need a slimline PS2 to run it because older models will choke on it. I haven't tested it on a backwards-compatible PS3 but I should so that Future Internet Travelers will find a hit when they Google "Chulip PS3."
Upper Deck Quickstrike boxes are really nice.
You may have seen these a couple years ago, when Upper Deck tried (and I assume failed) to launch a Pirates of the Caribbean card game and an Avatar card game, under the cross-compatible Quickstrike brand name. The 2P starter kits come in a swanky plastic box, with built-in trays for two decks, plus clips for rulebooks/maps/guides and a pen. And the exterior is like a DVD sleeve, so you can slip in any paper insert you want if you're not actually playing Avatar.
We found some of these at one of those closeout garbage stores. These would be fantastic for carting around tournament decks.
Adult Swim.com a no-go for Wii and PS3.
I wanted to watch the new Venture Bros online from the comfort of my couch, and neither the Wii nor the PS3's web browser could handle the version of Flash that Adult Swim.com requires. What the hell is up with that? What's so hard about keeping Flash current? Pay the lady and get your product up to standards.
So jealous of the new Metal Gear PS3 bundle.
For $500 you get an 80gig PS3, MGS4, one of the new Dual Shock 3 controllers (IE, they didn't cheap out and pack in an older SIXAXIS model) and $10 credit for the PSN game Pain. Had I been able to wait another year for the PS3, I definitely would have been waiting no longer. I was trying to get my buddy Mike to buy one of these bundles just today. Odds are that there will be another price drop (or model reshuffling) this fall, but those bundles won't come with Metal Gear.
$500?!!1
Somehow, I'm still not sold.
Then again, I'm pretty sure I barely count as a gamer anymore, anyway. It's been a LONG time since I've needed the latest and greatest gaming has to offer.
Why is it, exactly, I just don't care about PS3 or any of the Big Name Games (TM)?
GTA4, MGS4...there was a time I'd have been way interesting. Little Big Planet looks cute on all those TV ads I see, lately...but where my brain USED to say, "I really want that, time to start nagging Melissa," I get, "Shame I'll never be playing that. Looks kind of cute. Oh, well, guess I'll play 'Defend Your Castle' some more."
Maybe I get a "been there, done that" feeling (on some level) from big-time sequels like those? I know that's unfair and they're both probably completely great...
...but the desire to have them isn't there anymore.
Hm.
Eh, you're just rationalizing. If you at all enjoyed GTA and MGS on the PS2, you'll dig them on the PS3. You were there day one for Mario Galaxy (a big-name sequel) and there's no way that game is as good as GTAIV or MGS4.
Given the already unacceptable price point of the HD systems, $500 for the best PS3, a huge AAA game, plus the non-gimped controller is very nice. Would I like the PS3 to sell for sub-$300? Sure. I'd also like my monthly cable bill down to about $15.
The point is, the prices (and bundles) only get better... no console ever goes up in price. And when the PS3 gets down to a level you're comfortable in buying, then you can stop convincing yourself that it's not worth it, because you'll have hit the price where, for you, it is worth it.
Sure. But by that time, I'll feel like I've missed the boat on those AAA games, and I won't want to go back and go through them after everyone else has already cast them aside.
My AAA games will be everyone else's sloppy seconds.
Mario Galaxy was exciting to me because I skipped every Mario game after Super Mario World. I felt like I was jumping into something really different, whereas you had other things to compare it to.
I'm not saying I wouldn't enjoy those games, but...I never played MGS3. I didn't get it when it came out, and now I have no desire to pick it up...let alone make the jump to MGS4.
San Andreas was HOT. I doubt I'll wait until the PS3 is $300 so I can pick up GTA4, though. It'll be old news.
I don't know. Maybe I'm happy enough in my own little gameworld right now that I don't care to look into anything else. Maybe it's a shift in priorities, because I KNOW I won't have a chance of owning any of it anytime soon, and my brain just went ahead and shut off the part that says, "GO! BUY! OWN! PLAY!"
I'm still checking Everybody Votes Channel religiously. I care about my Wii Sports Fitness Test score. Maybe I'm becoming one of those "casual gamers" the kids are talking about?