Film review - Zombieland

I'll make a quick note to start things off: I find the term 'zombie' to be politically incorrect and offensive to those who have difficulties staying dead. So I shall try to get through this review without throwing the term around to the point that I will be sued by the corpse of Bill Murray, now let's start reviewing.

It's hard for me to enjoy movies about the non-living. Aside from the fact that we are already a bunch of brain-dead drones (as proven in Shaun of the Dead), the people in these movies all possess that irritating brain pattern of doing obviously stupid things leading to their immediate deaths. Z-land scores points right off the bat by having what are possibly the most intelligent people ever portrayed in an undead survival movie.

The 'rules' used by one of the main protagonists are pretty much what viewers have learned after years of watching people get caught off-guard and losing brains. Their continuous pop-ups during the movie put a smile on the viewers face, which will probably stay on there thanks to the constant humor.

Yes, Z-land is quite funny at times. While it is nowhere near the level of English wit features in Shaun of the Dead, Z-land relies on a more American type of humor – meaning in-your-face pop culture name drops a la Family Guy. If you can stomach these kind of laughs, then Z-land is one great roller coaster of fun.

If past movies in the genre have annoyed you, or you've grown tired of the same formula, Z-land is a must see. On your way to the cinema, be sure to remember rule #3 – wear seatbelts.

Nobody Miniviews - Afro Samurai

I can't say I was expecting a samurai-themed video game staring Samuel Jackson to hold back at any point, but like so many game adaptations something feels off the moment I start. Maybe its the overuse of in-game symbols in the loading screens alone – more teddy bears than I need to fill my bed. Or maybe its because even the lowly grunts of the video game world take more effort to bring down than Afro ever needed in the hand drawn world.

Even with the comical slapstick of another Samuel Jackson character (since he needs a minimum of two roles in any movie/game/book ever made) doesn't feel right. Maybe its because instead of my bizarre id, he has had to take up a second job as a checkpoint marker to the end of a level. I know the economy is tough all round, but taking it as far as stylised feudal Japan shows how bad it is.

Well if there aren't enough coins/headbands to go around in tough times, I could always thin out the numbers with my trusty pointy object. But for some reason grunts don't fall into a million pieces on the first swing like they used to. Obscene video game rule # 258 “all sharp weapons shall do motherfucking all when trying to cut artificial life”. Oh, I may have spoken too soon! It seems faceless bad guys can become confetti if you rip off The Matrix and slow the fuck down. Motherfucking Success!

Miniviewed by Steven Janjic

email @ nobodygaming@gmail.com

Nobody Miniviews - De Blob

It is amazing what developers are allowed to get away with in games that are labeled as 'kid friendly'. Mario is pardoned for mass genocide of a kingdom of turtles, not to mention his highly questionable fixation on shrooms. And here we have a 12 and under version of V For Vendetta. All these 'bad guys' wanted to do was create order and stop all those people distributing child pornography. Is that such as bad thing? Apparently so, because rebelling against authority is quite fun when you are a walking paint brush.

Rolling into town seems simple enough. Those janitors hired by the new regime seem to have done a good job in cleaning up this town, but now it seems kinda....boring. Wonder what they will say if I make a few trees red. Hmm, no one seems to be complaining – maybe a building next, or why not half a dozen buildings? Hey, now someone brought out the funky tunes in acknowledgement of me, and he knows how to play to my groove. Chillax time is a go!

But it seems the man doesn't quite want me chillaxing. For some completely stupid reason, there are time limits and high scores. However, since there are enough bonus time and points scattered around this totalitarian town, kinda seems that taxpayer dollars are going to waste with this scheme. And while I'm bitching about pointless ideas, whoever legislated that all jumping be regulated to swinging around wiimotes should be removed from office faster than Richard Nixon. But there is no time to complain, I seem to have earned a bajillion points and extras just by doing my own thing in town. Someone bring out the margaritas – the party is off the ball n chain!

Miniviewed by Steven Janjic

email @ nobodygaming@gmail.com

Nobody Miniviews - Assassin's Creed

The atmosphere in the 12th century holy land is as washed out as the colours of the city walls and people. The flicking of the screen and unknown voices really put me in Jerusel- wait, screen flickering?Who and what are these omnipotent beings talking out of sight? And why am I a human lab rat in the future instead of a crusaders era assassin? Alright alright, I'll bear this science-fiction reject stuff if it means I get back to 'ye olde thyme' faster. Yes yes sit in the machine, suffer through a pointless tutorial, can we get on with it please?

Alright I'm in, but something still doesn't feel right. This is a video game, but Atalir is strangely well-endowed for a prologue. After killing a few guards and starting to enjoy myself, I discover Atalir suffers from a Metroid complex – the process of teasing players with a fully powered figure only to rip it away from them instantly. How someone forgets to tackle or shrug off being grabbed I don't know, but Atalir has found a way. Seems if I want all the swag returned to me, I gotta be a good dog and do grandpas chores; eavesdropping on who people think will be voted off Idol this week, and occasionally putting sharp objects into these people. So when do I get to start running around 12th century rooftops?

Finally out of the assassins castle, but now where the hell am I? It's going to take at least a week to reach Damascus with every single guard chasing me unless I walk at the same pace as an old man. And just when you need it, you remember that Atalir still hasn't remembered how to fight against the medieval police. How exactly does someone forget how to parry? Oh well, maybe the sci-fi rejects can answer that?

Miniviewed by Steven Janjic

email @ nobodygaming@gmail.com

Broken Taboo + Nobody Miniviews

Yes I know the Platinum rerelease art is disgusting and ruins any style that boxart would otherwise posess, but for $15 it is hard to complain for something that will be this awesome. Of course I wont get much chance to play until after my rerun through Assassins Creed (for research purposes) but considering how long it will take to download all the new updates, I'll still be waiting for them to finish in 2011.

On the topic of reviews, since no one is calling shots on me at the moment and I've been looking for an alternative to just giving games random numbers out of 5 I will be introducing Miniviews starting this weekend.

One thing that I feel many reviewers overlook is the first impression that games give players. Like a publisher digging through a slush pile of writers, if a game fails to capture its audience early on, there is little incentive to pursue further. The idea is to avoid analysing gameplay mechanics and leaving a number at the end to rate my experience. And like a good piece of writing should, it wont go on for longer than it needs to (250-350 words is more than enough for this) This doesn't mean no more traditional reviews, but until I find a format that I feel suits my writing it is gonna be this kind of stuff instead.

Look forward to the experiment!

Cheers

Wii Sports Resort launch

Plenty of crowds to get through at EB tonight, but its all in the name of Nintendo so it wont matter too much that a few children get crushed in the sea of peoples.

Can't say I blame them either. Mx pretty much guaranteed some presence at the event by promising free copies of Wii Sports Resort to the first five people to arrive, which was pretty much gone by 6pm (not bad for a launch starting at 10). Things didn't get much better out in the cold when the pre orders were piling up at the last minute as you can see belows.

Now enough wasting time and get back to killing your 56k connections!

Too sleep deprived to add the usual witty/annoying comments, so take what you get and enjoy it! Now is my time for my passing out, Cheerzzzzzzz*sleeps*

Just a quickie

Due to teenagers being noctural creatures I don't think I will be considering sleep tonight. Class in a few hours should be plenty dull with a substitute teacher for the next three weeks (one of which has quite the reputation of being meh) so I'll have plenty of time to catch my z's before the Wii Sports Resort launch tonight at EB Swanston.

Lack of funds to pick it up tonight, not even to buy/play for 3-4 days/return for instant refund. Shame to, since a free second MotionPlus and dual Wiimote charger are being offered as bonuses for we Nintendrones with no other outlet for disposing of cash money. On the bright side, there will still be a few hours to try out the games on display and give a half assed demo write up instead of a full review, now lets just hope Nintendo have the balls to stop distracting me with archery and swordfighting and show off the rest of the sports on offer.

Anyways I'm thinking a GTO marathon til the sun comes round the corner

Cheers

Connection Tour 2009 - Welcome to the resort or whatever

Just in case you couldn't tell from giant sign hanging overhead, it was the time of the casual gamer once again. Beneath the behemoth of a sign was the island of DSi inhabited by the people of Rythym Heaven and Pokemon Platinum along with the usual collection of touch generation samples used to entice those with several mortgage payments to go.

Around the mountain that housed the DS games we had numerous tv sets showing off mostly why people should pay money for this game instead of sticking to the free bundle of Wii tennis and bowling. While all 12 sports weren't shown off (or maybe they were and I just didn't notice between all the Rythym Heaven + Guitar Hero) I did get a taste of what to expect when the game hits later this month. For now I'll save my opinions til I get more time at the launch party later this month, and instead just dump the less-blury pics from my borrowed camera.

Pull back on the nunchuck...

...hit the target...

...and win a silly hat!

The budget for chairs clearly went into those headphones.

Yours truly about to defend his honor in Wii Swordplay ... he failed.

But that's not a DS- oh wait, I get it!

Finishing up with the swag haul of 09'

Dear Sony

I understand you wanting to give we consumers a choice in a nation where our internet downloading capabilities are ... let's say, limited. And it's great for those collector nerds such as myself who like to display pointless cases for games that I will never sell and probably only come back to 3-4 times in my life.

But really Sony, how much more would it have cost you to make plastic cards with PSN funds and supply them to local Australian retailers? Heck, they could sell these pre paid cards to consumers who want to actually BUY YOUR GAMES but have no access to credit cards. I can only live so long off the single demo track available for Wipeout HD - although if you are still releasing PSN games on disc, I wouldn't mind it on my shelf. And this new PSP Go! If it is going anywhere IMO, its straight to eBay for most Australian users when we discover little Timmy needs mummy and daddy to give out important credit card info so he can play Patapon.

We are not asking for blood Sony, just a way for us disgruntled Australian Playstation users to give you more of our dipleating stimulus packages (does anyone still have $$$ from those?) Anyways, please get on this issue immediately so everyone can get back to the important issues, like bitching about how expensive the systems themselves are!

signed in virtual blood

Australian Playstation users

PS. I'll be heading down to the Connection Tour sometime this weekend, stay tuned for pics and pointless bitching about Wii Sports Resort.

Review - Ratchet And Clank: Quest For Booty

What do you get when you take a popular game series, and strip it down to its bare essentials? The ignorant answer would be Ratchet & Clank: Quest For Booty. But upon closer inspection of this 'episodic' sequel, Insomniac have instead put more focus on the often light platforming side of the series. To calm down the overly excited fans for the upcoming 2009 sequel to Tools Of Destruction, the budget bit of entertainment just might do the job.

Taking off the heels of the 2007 release, Quest For Booty continues Ratchets journey to track down his friend Clank. The absence of the robotic companion takes away quite a bit from the series strengths, not only in gameplay functions but also in the humour often found in this series writing. Along with the laughs, the weapons from the last game have returned in a more limited form. With so many past elements removed, it is hard for the new kinetic wrench to stand out in the frequent platforming sections.

One thing that has not changed in the game is the high level of presentation. Despite less epic environments, the visuals still pack the same punch that were first used in 2007. And even with weaker writing the voice acting still manages a solid performance from all round. For its short length, Quest For Booty is pleasing to look at and listen too.

So in the end there mechanics are stripped down, the laughs are weak unless you have some sort of pirate fetish and the whole thing comes to an immediate halt after 3-4 hours with no closure in order to get people in line for the upcoming release in 2009. If not for the budget release at retail it would be hard to recommend to fans of the series. But for $30, hardened Ratchet fans won't mind jumping in and setting sail on a semi-grand adventure.

Presentation – 4/5

Gameplay – 3/5

Value – 2/5

Overall – 3/5

Reviewed by Steven Janjic

Review - Dead Space

With so many games using elements of horror to appeal to hardcore gamers, how does the survival horror genre stand out from the competition? If you ask EA Redwood, the answer is to take the genre into space, and rip everyones legs off. Dead Space borrows elements from various films and games to deliver a somewhat unique experience, but at times still comes across as little more than a marketing tool for dismembering limbs.

With the crew from a mining ship going MIA, players take the role of generic gaming mute Isaac Clarke while he follows orders to repair the ship, uncover the truth about what the heck is going on, and possibly find his missing love squeeze. The story remains solid thanks to an abundance of passive voice messages and being able to walk around during cutscenes. However the religious overtones and alien technology feel cliche at best, and the story does little to deliver true feelings of horror.

Once inside the game, Dead Space tries its hardest to convince you it is a legit survival horror. The flickering lights and blood splattered walls do make for more atmosphere than a spaceship should have, and while the monsters are more hyperactive than a child on red cordial, the designs are definitely creepy. And while the sound design gives away 90% of the scares, the lack of sounds in the outer space portions really show an attention to detail. Problems arise with Isaac and his limb breaking boot though. Controlling Isaac makes any elements of fear disappear as he is casually able to beat the creepy crawlies to death with their own legs.

Fear issues aside, the core design of the exploration gunplay is solid. While over the shoulder cameras are nothing new for the genre, ingame inventory management and menus are a rare treat. In terms of control, Dead Space plays like a textbook example of functional mechanics to reach from point A to point B over 12 linear chapters. The dismemberment feature is impressive at first, but within the first hour you can't help but feel the game is riding on this feature by reminding you about it almost half a dozen times.

There are games that can taunt innovation and be considered the greatest thing since sliced bread. Dead Space is nowhere near that. Dead Space is a gamers game, it has plenty of sexy sexy violence and a functional (if derivative) design philosophy. Like an enjoyable summer blockbuster movie, Dead Space would be best taken in with a bucket of popcorn if it were possible to have a third alien arm feed you while playing.

Presentation - 4/5

Gameplay – 5/5

Value – 3/5

Overall – 4/5

Reviewed by Steven Janjic

E3 2009 - Lets Get Physical!

The Electronic Entertainment Expo is always about more than than just announcing a re-release of last years popular game with the number 2 (sometimes 3) attached. At this years E3 representatives from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony all announced plenty of new hardware to excite gamers, some announcements more amazing than others.

Possibly the most intriguing hardware announcement from all three companies was Project Natal from Microsoft. Using nothing but this new camera, players would be able to interact with their games using nothing but their own body. While this sounds just like something that has been around for a long time now, there was more to show than flailing arms. A video demo of Milo showed people being able to use vocal tones and words to interact with virtual images on screen. Milo himself is able to see through the Natal camera and compliment what you are wearing and even gets you to help him with various tasks. What makes the latter more amazing is its execution. In one scenario, the player draws an image on a normal piece of paper and brings the page closer to the camera, as if to hand it to Milo. Hopefully some Japanese Date Sim developers take notice and put this technology to good use.

Nintendo has spent plenty of time showing off its Wii MotionPlus accessory, which promises to allow the Wii controller to achieve full 1:1 motion controls. The accessory is available starting July for $29.95 or bundled with Wii Sports Resort and other selected games. The newer, less exciting reveal at E3 was the Wii Vitality Sensor – a device used to track a players pulse and temperature. No new games were revealed showing how this could be applied, but knowing the Big N, it will sell faster than free food to the homeless.

Sony, not wanting to be left out of the scene, jumped in with a 'me too' announcement for a motion controller. Unlike the other big boys, this concept appeared far from completion – not even having a name or final design plan to show off. What was shown was a nice combination of the other two companies work, using the existing Playstation Eye and new two-part controller, players had full 1:1 control in the virtual environment. On a more portable note, the Playstation Portable is getting a major overhaul with the PSP Go! A redesign doing away with the standard UMD drive for games, replacing it with 16GB of internal memory for gamers to keep their games purchased from the online Playstation Store. Despite this not being motion controlled, the message is getting across – you gamers need to get off the couch to play your games!

But it is going to be hard to draw people away from their dualshocks with all the less casual games revealed this year. New titles such as Metal Gear Solid: Rising, Final Fantasy XIV, Metroid: Other M and so on will continue to drain life out of the hardcore gaming masses. Meanwhile people looking for something more original can look forward to Heavy Rain, Alan Wake and Scribblenauts. Look forward to more information on these games when later in the year, and continue the tradition of the couch potato gamer.

Just when I finally KICKED the habit!

Seriously, I was pretty much going to snuff out the idea of Pokemon Platinum since it has done little to win me over from the last game (which I prematurely ended after growing bored trying to train my dream team) But announcing remakes of Gold/Silver is a guaranteed way to put me back in the waiting line to give Nintendo my money.

I still consider Gold/Silver/Crystal to be the pinacle of the series. It literally built on everything that Red/Blue/Yellow had, and did so without losing any charm that the series had. While the series never really focused on this idea, there was a continuation of the R/B/Y storyline with characters moving on after their brick gameboy adventures. And most importantly, it still had MOTHERFUCKING TEAM ROCKET! And so, while I doubt uppity Japanese developers will pay attention to the ramblings of a madman, here is what I want to see happen with these new games

DITCH EVERYTHING POST-251!

It's not a new generation pokemon game without new critters to enslave, and to me the G/S/C generation of pokemon were the best designed. They still had a feeling of originality while feeling in place with the original 151 designs. Since then the new pokemon have gotten more and more bizzare designs to distract the fanboys that they have been playing the same game for 10 years. In short: The new pokemon suck and should not be seen anywhere in the Johto or Kanto regions. Even if it means the Starly family is nowhere to be seen.

SPEED THE WHOLE FUCKING THING UP!

A fairly new problem for me. When I started Poke Diamond I found the inclusion of 3D sprites to have really 'wiped off 5' even when holding down the run button. Sure the GB games were also slow, but 2D sprites still got along faster than anything the beret-wearing snail could do. In fact, now I get that whole beret thing! The DS male trainer is a French snail! And yea, who likes the French anyway? Give the guy a can of Red Bull to speed him up.

MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO GET THE REMAINING LEGENDARIES!

Well, maybe not the new legendaries, since that would conflict with request #1. But having to fill Pokemon Ranch with 1000 pokemon to obtain a Mew is fucking insane and whoever thought this up should be shot, stabbed and left to rot on Haley's ranch. In fact, NO MORE buying spin-off games to obtain a single legendary pokemon! So make it possible to get all 5 birds, all 3 dogs, those 2 Mewthings and a fucking Celebi! If those GBA-DS era legendaries MUST be featured, throw in items to make them accessible in the Diamond/Pearl/Platinum so they don't dirty up my Johto journey.

Of course Nintendo could do none of this and fill this remake with nothing but DSi minigames and Bidoof's and I would still buy it like the good whipping boy I am. But one can't help but dream, can they?

I am so smart! I am so smart! S-M-R-T!

To start this off, I should clarify that I am NOT DRUNK! I've had this thought in the back of my head for a while now that I haven't been able to piece together until now. So if there are holes in my insane conspiracy theories, blame it on too much Metal Gear Solid 4 and continue to ignore me and my genius.

Since its release, everyone (myself included) has praised Killer 7 as an example of the video game being more art than entertainment. But just what about it makes it a demonstration of art? Does a videogame need to use obvious cel shading to be considered artistic in merit? Of course not! But then what makes Killer 7 something more than the usual Capcom 'lets appease the Western market with b-grade plots and 80s action movie gore'

And that's when it hit me

I recalled early mentions of a later Goichi Suda directed game, No More Heroes, satiring the modern idea of open world sandbox game. While the game itself did little to captivate on the open world concept compared to the likes of Grand Theft Auto or even Assassins Creed, its lack of substance to the city of Santa Destroy achieved Suda51's goal to satire the likes of GTA with his own unique flare. Examples of satire are found in films, with many minds going straight to the likes of Monty Python team, or Mel Brooks films. Satire must be the key, even if not immediately appreciated by the critics. But in 10 years time, gamers will recall that cult hit that took the piss out of every single action game from the 2000s, even if they don't remember the name (for those untrained in the likes of game knowledge, I refer to the recently released Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazzard)

Now we rewind back to 2005 and Killer 7. Is the artistic merit hidden in elements of satire? I would argue yes! And to further back up my argument, I already have the perfect whipping child for Suda's cult creation. My prime suspect is none other than Resident Evil. Without calling me crazy, there is more to this connection than RE creator Shinji Mikami being a producer on this game.

- Easiest one first, Killer 7 is heavy on the fetch quests and bizzare puzzles. When not deciding which magic ring to use on what area, you were cracking codes and revealing secret messages to add more questions to the plot than answers. RE is probably a bit more focused on its insane puzzles, but what was more a frustration in 1996 becomes a weird headscratcher in 2005.

- No camera control. This one took me a while to place, but it perfectly fits into a RE themed satire. Early titles in the Resident Evil series had many reasons to stick to static camera angles. Lack of control raised tension for the player. The game could use overly pretty pre-rendered images to do more visually than the original Playstation could achieve. But most importantly, the camera angles were cool because they gave you the best cinematic viewpoint. Without bringing back the human-tank controls, Killer 7 has some fantastic cinematic views.

- The enemies like hide and seek. Going back to the static camera of Resident Evil, the player was never sure about what, if anything, was waiting for them around the corner. This kind of peekaboo tactic is RE's main source of horror, but without talking about scares, it just means that the zombies were rarely standing out in the open. The heaven smiles of Killer 7 may not be hiding around the corner wall, but they are still hidden to the naked eye. They must be 'scanned' to reveal their location before the player is attacked.

So, am I crazy? Or have I discovered the source of Killer 7's art cred?

What the fuck Kotaku!?!?!?!

Seriously Kotaku, what the hell!? How come I had to find about about a DS Haruhi game, and Wii Hare Hare dancing through other websites? Standard Kotaku policy dictates regular posts regarding all things Haruhi related, followed by a embedd display of Hare Hare Yukai.

Guess it's time to pick up Bashcrafts slack

Peekabo, 'i' See You

Nintendo are no strangers to hardware updates, so the Nintendo DSi should come as no surprise to handheld devotees. The latest revision to the Nintendo DS hardware feature two (count em, TWO!) built in cameras, music playback through SD cards, built in web browser, improved speakers and larger screens. For a company that traditionally is conservative with multimedia features, Nintendo seem to have pulled out all the stops this time. But is this the upgrade all should be running to get?

To start things off on the new checklist, one of the more interesting additions is the DSiWare store.  Totally not trying to take a page from the iPhones App Store, DSiWare allows users to make their DSi unique with various games and features. Already available in Japan are Nintendo themed calculators, virtual sketchbooks, and themed editions of the popular Brain Training series. Prices range from free downloads, up to 800 Nintendo Points ($12)

Along with downloadable software, the DSi has a few multimedia features to show off. Music playback, multiple cameras and image support are being touted as reasons to upgrade. However, many users will find compatibility with existing images and music to be poor at best. No MP3 compatibility, limited image formats, and the cameras are lower quality than mobile phones two generations ago. In short, if you want a multimedia device, stick with your Playstation Portable/iPhone/iRiver/iEtcetera.

Where entertainment upgrades may be a mixed bag in terms of upgrades, everyone should be happy with the presentation of the DSi. Gone is the fingerprint-absorbing gloss finish, replaced with an easier to clean matte finish on the outside of the system. Gamers will also appreciate the improved audio speakers and expanded screen sizes. Time will tell if the DSi can stand the test of day to day wear, but if people were careful with their Lites then the DSi should live through anything.

But the question remains – should owners of the original DS and DS Lite consider upgrading to the DSi? The answer: yes and no. While better external designs and a method of digital distribution may win over the easily converted, the limited multimedia and higher price point will make others second guess themselves. At $299.95, the DSi may not be everyone's idea of a easy buy. For others without a DS (are you guys still out there?) this looks to be the definitive version of this incredibly popular device. i hope to see you all enjoying your DSi systems at home, on the train, in between classes at tafe, and anywhere else you want.

All aboard the hype train, choo choo choo!

A cold Wednesday night. I'm still trying to recover from previous night of alcohols but I must belong to the masses that call themselves fanboy- opps, I mean gamers.
 
Anyways jokes aside, the Nintendrones were there in the masses. Kinda strange considering how much these same people condemn the DSi and its Nintendo-style of features on the interwebs. But when Nintendo calls, peoples come - it just happened that the Womens Weekly and Cosmopolitan readers were washing their hair on the night.

Already stocking DSi accessories

While the event was't quite starting up until 10pm, people were already there in preperation for the big event and for last minute pre orders of the system.  In order to entice any on the ropes people or parents of 11 years olds who had already pre ordered their own system, EB were throwing in free copies of the 'Training' games with every DSi purchased that night. And what better way to push a cynical game writer over the edge than making the price $150 when you pawn off your DS Lite. I guess I could cave in tonight.

One last photo for memories (or lulz)

As I stood in line, removing my copy of GTA: Chinatown Wars from my almighty DS Lite, I decided I would have to live without the possibility of playing my GBA games (oh yea, and Jessie's Girl on Guitar Hero On Tour). When it came my turn to be served I announced that they had won and I was trading in my Lite. Then came the turning point. "Do you have the charger with you?" As this was an impulse moment of course I didn't have any stinkin charger with me. Oh sure I could have spent $15 on a charger to trade in with the Lite, but by that point I was looking for any excuse to back out. Dodged a $150 matte black bullet with that wall in front of me. Oh wait, its time to start up that whole event thing

There is, but one ring, to rule them all!

The velvet rope was removed. It was time for the nintendrones to march up the stairs and experience the Nintendo...experience. A bunch of Nintendo Wii systems are set up for the nights Mario Power Tennis tournament (aka. an easy way for a person to score a second DSi in the night). That said, yours truely was sure to get his rear end handed to him in the first round, by someone he knew from high school to make things worse! On the bright side, despite not serving V/Red Bull/Mother/Poison as the choice of beverage, Nintendo knows what its audience digests.

To quote someone from the night "they're doing well - they have us eating out of dog bowls"

Long story short, no one told Nintendo that daylight savings was a week late and this 'midnight' launch was more of an 11pm launch. Not as charming I know, but whatever gets me home before I miss the last tram. I tried my luck at haggling the EB employees for a DSi without that bullocks trade in, but the best I could get em down to was $299.95 which was too much for me so I moved on and proceeded to snap pictures of the lucky people who could afford the rrp and still sleep at night. Enough talking now, time for pictures acompanied by my dry, unfunny wit.

The lucky first two showing off their DSi's - Don't ya just wish you were them? Yea, me neither.

Too busy enjoying that DSi to notice the free ice cream being handed to her right now.

Yea he has a DSi, so what? Smiling is for the weak after all!

But thats not a...oh I get it! Even more ironic - he wasn't playing a PSP game (oh snap!)

At least this guy has a DSi, and he seems happy about it too

Two nerds and only one DSi? Hope they learn to share

You gotta admire the nerds that take the time to inspect their goods on the spot. They just DO NOT trust Nintendo to give them that second styli

The closest I will get to a DSi for quite some time (at least a DSi without security restrains trapping it on the EB tables)

At the end the boxes were empty and the dog bowls were nothing but holes with bits of sugar sitting on the bottom. And that is pretty much it. Nothing that wouldn't have been covered by others by now since I am a couple days late in reportings. All thats left to do is say 'Cheers' and go get my 8 hours.

Cheers

PS.

Outdated!