Category: Personal

So, it’s Monday. Time for a new post here at 8-bit Ninja. Enjoy.

I’ve been tremendously enjoying my Wii. I picked up Super Paper Mario, which has been a lot of fun so far. I’m a bit worried though, as a colleague told me that the game becomes disappointing by the end. We shall see about that. I also nabbed Kid Icarus for the Virtual Console. It is easily one of the hardest games I’ve ever played. If you’ve never played it, know this: you will fucking hate Eggplant Wizards.

Oh, by the way, if you haven’t figured it out, I decided to go ahead and open up my Wii. Perhaps you remember the conundrum I faced last week. If not, I suggest you scroll down a ways and find out.

It’s Thanksgiving this week, which is wonderful news. I’m looking forward to the day off, even though it may not be a traditional day off. Such are the hazards of freelance work, folks. Grumbling aside, there will be food, fun, and hopefully, families enjoying Wii Sports. I say families because Annie and I are now faced with the ever awkward family holiday shuffling. In other words, we’ll be eating two Thanksgiving dinners. The reality of it is actually pretty daunting. Imagine, if you will, how many rolls you will consume this Thursday. Now double that number. See where I’m going with this?

It happens every once in a while. If you’ve been gaming long enough, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Last night I snagged my old NES from my parents house (I have a whole closet full of old gaming consoles there). I did this primarily so my wife could play Solomon’s Key. We set it up in the guest room, on a good old 4:3 tube TV. And now I have been struck by the nostalgia bug. I went to on of the local used game shops (Vintage Stock) today and picked up Bionic Commando, a game I never owned. I saw Sonic CD there as well and considered picking it up. Maybe another time, preferably after I bring my Sega Genesis and Sega CD back from my parents house.

I have a horrible feeling that I’m treading a slippery slope. My desire to start grabbing up all the pieces of my childhood that I missed (or lost) is growing at a rapid pace. I’m halfway toward putting in a bid for Panzer Dragoon Saga for the Sega Saturn. There’s a lurking fear that someday I won’t even be able to find it for exorbitant prices on eBay anymore. And now I know that I have to grab more of my old consoles from my parents’ place.

So what sparked all this? Behold:

My collection fit into the entertainment center perfectly.

Do your best Richard Dreyfuss with me: “This means something.”

On a side note: my wife bought me a Wii today. She wanted to get me one for my birthday/Christmas. I found one and know how hard they are to find, so we went to Target and bought it. Now I’m stuck with a dilemma: wait until my birthday next month to open it (what my gut says is right), or open it right damn now (what my gut says is more fun.)

I guess there are worse problems to have.

So, if you’ve been keeping tabs on Xbox 360 Fanboy, you’ll know that I went to E3. E3 is, as most gamers will tell you, a sort of gaming mecca. It’s a place where many gamers dream of going and a place that few of us ever get to see. Sure, we get glimpses of it through the gilded walls of video game journalism, but rarely do we get to crack it open, lay its contents bare.

I was lucky enough to do just that. If you are a gamer, then you’ll know that this year’s E3 marked a change. It was smaller, more intimate. Merely a shadow of the massive trade show it once was. I can tell you right now, I’ve never been to an E3 before and I don’t care. What I experienced was incredible to me. While I was there, I heard the complaints of wizened journalists lamenting the E3 of yesteryear and I didn’t care.

I got to play Rock Band before anyone else. I even got my performance forever captured in the workings of YouTube. Now everyone on the planet can see how much I looked like a tool while singing the Stone Temple Pilots song “Vasoline.” Suffice it to say I felt much cooler while singing it. Again though, I don’t care. I had a fucking blast. My only regret is that I focused on my particular avenue of coverage, the Xbox 360, and didn’t take in the other gaming goodness on display. I should have played Metroid Prime 3, damn it.

This very blog was started a little more than a year ago with the single-minded purpose of going to E3 under the auspices of game journalism. I never thought I would actually be employed for such things but there you have it. I’ve been doing it for over a year now and I haven’t soured of it. Hopefully, that remains true for a good long while.

If someone told me I’d be doing this for a living when I was a child, I wouldn’t have believed them. I only hope that the drive to keep it up is still here a year from now, and for many years after that.