I always feel better when I have a nice, money-saving gaming purchase in the near future.
posted by Joe
09.05.10 01:02PM

Aside from Warioware DIY, some other WiiWare diversions, and that sad Project Runway game, I have done little to jack on my Wii since March.

And now, within a few days, I'll have four brand new Wii exclusives.

Metroid: Other M finally shipped from Amazon, so I should have that on Tuesday. My fault for going with Super Saver Shipping, so I can't complain. The Amazon preorder stocked me with $20 credit that I will probably see if I can flip on to a PSN gift card.

I got that review copy of NHL Slapshot, which is far better than I expected. It's pretty much a genuine hockey video game, albeit a little creaky since it doesn't have the latest flash of the "core" EA/2K series. It's kind of like an NHL game fell out of 2002 and grew peripheral-based motion controls.

And after perusing this week's Toys R Us sales flyer, I have a morning mission on Tuesday to go get Batman: The Brave and the Bold as soon as possible. The game comes with a free t-shirt and I have this feeling that TRU won't get enough to cover the day's sales. (Unless it comes shrink-wrapped with the game, like last year's Rabbids Go Home shirt.)

Now here's the deal. TRU has a Buy One Get One Half Off deal this week on certain games. Batman B&B is on the list for both Wii and DS. (So is NHL Slapshot, incidentally.) So I think I'm going to tack on Disney Guilty Party. Both Guilty Party and Batman B&B are $40... so now I'm at $60 for the pair.

I could get the DS version of B&B and therefore unlock three-player Bat-Mite, but I think I'll hold that for a future deal. I have kind of a moral problem with paying $40 for the Wii version and $30 for the DS version. It's 2010 and the DS is about to be outmoded. NOTHING should be retailing at the $30 price point. Anyway, that DS cart will be $20 before we know it. Like, after February.

I already have a $5 coupon for Batman. And I have a $40 gift card from Blur and a leftover $10 gift card from my last TRU credit card bonus. So I'm down to $5 for two Wii games and a Batman t-shirt. I am going to walk out of that store so high.

Signs from our summer
posted by Joe
09.04.10 10:29PM

Going back through our iPhoto for the year, I noticed a lot of pictures of silly signs.

From Dutch Wonderland. It's the old farmer guy in the middle that you're going to want to watch out for. Would that the actual flume cars had that much leg room.

From some local pet store. Look, dammit, if you've got a problem with the girth of the crickets we have in stock, take it up with the Cricket Supplier Control Board, not me!

From a local mini-golf joint. Three fonts, plenty of doofy letter substitutions, and a bizarrely fitted hat on that kid.

From Lake Tobias Animal Park. This is actually proof that God made human fingers specifically for animal consumption.

From Lake Tobias Animal Park. I love the 1930s-era comic visual of the hat popping off.

From the Agricultural and Industrial Museum. Back then, inspiring propaganda. Today, a World of Warcraft joke.

From Roadside America. Nothing says "generation gap" like signs demanding that all children be still, quiet and chained to their parents.

From PA Dutch Gift Haus. Eff that double rainbow crap, we got us here a DOUBLE DISTELFINK.

The Week in Links
posted by Joe
09.03.10 10:01PM

The Whitest Kids U Know - Online Gaming (YouTube)
This gag has been done before, but never so brilliantly garage.

How was your day? (tumblr)
Rhonda has started a Tumblr that documents some of the cool stuff that Clark says about his school day!

Samurai Wars custom action figures (Sillof via Angry Asian Man)
George Lucas has quoted Japanese samurai films as an inspiration for Star Wars. This gent made cool custom action figures based on that.

Why Do the Japanese Draw Themselves as White? (Society Pages via Kotaku)
Spot-on: They don't. It is unfortunate that this common misunderstanding leads to boorish Americans finding another way to assume other cultures worship the US.

Jack Kirby predicted Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" Rally 40 years ago. (Beaucoup Kevin)
"Tell it, Godfrey! Tell us how our pride is being attacked and dragged into the dust!"

Poker Night at the Inventory (Telltale Games)
Kooky! A poker game featuring Max, Strong Bad, Tycho and the big dude from Team Fortress 2! Who else could we get in there... how about GlaDOS, Niko Bellic, and, what the hell, Mewtwo.

Disney Afternoon vs. Tiny Toons (1989) (Cartoon Brew)
Oh man, this is great. Mike Kazaleh (Hi Captain Jack!) uncovered an old Disney marketing pitch to stations for the Disney Afternoon... and it is page after page of attacks on Bugs Bunny and Warners.

Goodbye, Indy. | Joe, 09.03.10

Indy was born in 1995. He died last night. Indy - and his "sister" Saffie - were brought into the family just as my childhood cat Tawny left us. Almost exactly fifteen years ago. Indy was the kitten who would fall asleep sitting up. I initially wanted to name him Bannon because I was on a weird hipster Jonny Quest kick. Indy was short for Indigo. Indy became a burly, roly-poly kind of housecat. But he kept a juvenile, high-pitched voice. He was the kind of easygoing cat that you could pick up and play with and it never bothered him. In the last few months, he lost a lot of his former weight, and in the last few days it became apparent that his end was near. [more]

This weekend we're playing Wii peripheral hockey. | Joe, 09.03.10
Today I got a review copy of NHL Slapshot for Wii, which is expected in stores in a couple weeks.

Assembling the hockey stick was a bit tricky. But I love this shot of Wayne Gretzky almost playing the game, as seen on the back of the box. [more]

Basically, this boils down to me wanting to carry everything I own around with me at all times. | Joe, 09.01.10
One of the recurring thoughts whenever I check out that DC Comics app on my iPhone is how cool it would be if my entire collection was digital. Like, everything. The collection that I stopped counting and cataloging decades ago, but if I had to ballpark it, I'd have to number it around 7000 floppies (is that what you get with 25+ longboxes?) Plus another couple hundred in trades and manga. How cool would it be to have it all in my pocket. Obviously MB storage is a concern, and a goodly portion of my collection is weirdass B&W explosion books that would never be included, but you get the point. I'm always saying how I would like to re-read 52 or whatever, and having it on my iPhone would make that so, so much easier. Read over lunch. Read in the car. Read on the couch. All without having to dig and unwrap and refile the books. Comics Alliance posted a nice piece today about the inevitability of digital comics. And how the publishers are purposefully pussyfooting around in it, creating a doomed strategy because they can't afford to tick off the retailers. I'm sure I'm not alone: I'd like to have both. For every comic I buy, hard copy, at the store, I'd like a ride-along digital version. Right now, a brand new issue of Justice League: Generation Lost - the only new book that DC is fielding day-and-date both digitally and on racks - costs $3 each. That is nuts. I'm sorry, but a digital book should not cost the same as a printed book. [more]

I touched some original Galactus. | Joe, 08.31.10
Last week, our office was visited by a Rubbermaid full of classic 1960s comics.

They belong to co-worker Anna's father, and she was blindly cool enough to bring them in for me and Josh to manhandle. Delicately. The collection has great runs on Amazing Spider-Man, Uncanny X-Men, Daredevil (even Awful Original Costume Daredevil).. and my favorite, the Fantastic Four. [more]

GTA: Losted and Damneded | Joe, 08.30.10
Just finished the main storyline of GTA: The Lost and Damned. Over ten hours on the clock, with a percentage complete around 67%. Got four of the five Trophies, did six or seven of the gang wars. Barely bothered with the bike delivery missions. Certainly didn't care about getting my gang brothers' Like rating up to 100%. Did not spend a single second in multiplayer. So plenty more to do there (about 33% more), although I think I'll just move on to Ballad of Gay Tony. The motorcycle focus was not as bad as I had suspected. Having driven very few bikes in GTAIV, I anticipated a lot of me spinning off the road and losing the mission. That only happened a few times; the vast majority of missions were fine, despite being largely on motorcycles. The motorcycle physics are crazy. You can hit the curb of a sidewalk and end up careening end over end. And if you're on a bike, and you hit a car head on, you can enjoy seeing Johnny Klebitz sail six stories into the air before arcing gracefully into the road half a block away. Makes me wish the PS3 version had YouTube support. [more]

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