Month: March 2008

It was a Nintendo heavy week for me. Between Zelda: Twilight Princess (GC version), Smash Bros. Brawl, and Lolo on Virtual Console. If you have a Wii (or an NES), you really should try Lolo. It’s one of the better console logic puzzle games out there. If you like to over-think things (and I do), you can even see shades of Lolo in Portal. Yes, I was completely serious about that statement.

My niece convinced me to get back into Zelda: Twilight Princess, and I’m glad she did. After only an hour or so of playing it, I’m already engaged in the story again. It’s good stuff, and much more mature than I was expecting.

Finally, I’m looking to actually get back into some semi-regular multiplayer gaming again. Not sure if this is going to be at the same time every week or what, but I’m trying to squeeze at least an hour and a half or so at least one night a week. The X3F crew has been toying with the idea of grabbing community members to try out Community Content before we write it up. Just imagine, you could be featured in one of our videos! Isn’t that exciting? No? Oh, well, we might do it anyway.

I’m actually really proud of the videos we’ve been doing lately, both for XBLA in Brief and Community Content. I embedded one of our Community Content videos in this post, just to show it off. Feels pretty cool to be making our own videos now. And I probably can’t say too much, but we have some cool news regarding X3F videos that should be coming pretty soon. Stay tuned.

Greetings loyal subject(s). So, a few things to discuss. Number one, Smash Bros. Brawl is still awesome, though it is nigh unplayable online. It is made better when played with friends and simultaneously voice chatting via Xbox Live (or your VOIP app of choice). I unlocked Sonic and he’s pretty good, so I’m happy. On a much more manly video game front, Call of Duty 4 is awesome. Tycho from Penny Arcade once described the ending of Prince of Persia as “masterful,” an assessment I wasn’t sure I agreed with. Call of Duty 4, on the other hand, most certainly ends masterfully. It’s just about perfect. Yeah, it’s super short, but it is oh so very sweet.

I’ve yet to delve into the multiplayer portion, but I was part of the beta a few months back, so I know how addictive it is.

I’ll probably wait for a bit before I get into multiplayer, as I still have to wrap up Lost Odyssey. I say “wrap up” but what I mean is “put in another 30 hours or so.”

In other news, my niece is in town, and we’ll likely be playing through the adventure mode in Smash Bros. Brawl. That makes me immensely happy.

Ahem. If you own a Wii, go get this game right now. Actually, I’m inclined to tell you to go get this game anyway. Apart from a less than perfect online system (which can be made better, by the way), it is as excellent as I had hoped. It does not reinvent the wheel, but it really didn’t have to.

That’s really all I wanted to say. By the way, if you still read me (both of you), let me know. I’m feeling lonely.

I was under the impression that I was supposed to write a new entry here at least once a week. I haven’t done that lately. I apologize.

So, with that out of the way, it’s been incredibly busy at Xbox 360 Fanboy lately. In the space of one month — the short month of February at that — I contracted two new writers, coached them through their first week or two, went to GDC, and started producing video features. Sweet googa mooga, I can’t keep up. I barely find time to play games anymore, honestly. I have worked out a way to get some more time though, but perhaps I’ll talk about that some other time.

For now, I have to say this: I interviewed Peter Molyneux. One on one. It is thus far the highlight of my career as a games journalist. It was great.

As for everything else. I’m enjoying putting together video features. I picked up an eyetv hybrid from ElGato, which allows the capture of video to a Mac computer from any composite or S-video source. Combined with a distribution amplifier (a purchase I was hoping I wouldn’t have to make unfortunately) it works like dream. If you read X3F (which is more likely than you reading this) expect to see a lot more videos in the future.

That’s it for this week. It’s effing cold here right now.