I'm actually surprised noone else jumped on this one yet. I shall take it upon myself to do just that!

Redspotgames has announced that pre-ordering has begun for Yuan Work's latest game, Wind and Water: Puzzle Battles, on the Sega Dreamcast. I'll wait for you to finish you "Dreamcast Just Won't Die" comment before we continue. ... Good! The game goes for €25.95, which is roughly $35 in US Smackeroos not including shipping. I was initially intrigued by the well done pixelated art-style. I stayed for the frantic puzzle action that reminds me of fond memories with Magical Drop 3. There's a GP2X demo out there right now and I think there was a Dreamcast demo released in some European magazine, so if anyone had access to one or the other, I'd love to hear what others thought on this.

The game is supposed to ship out by the end of October, so I'll have to stare at my mailbox intently until it springs forth from it. INTENTLY, I say. Surely, this will make the time go faster!

The Dreamcast continues to be one of the best decisions I have made in gaming. I bought the system used my first year in my college and most of the games I still continue to play on it for less than $100. Copies of Skies of Arcadia and my import Street Fighter III: Third Strike (Which was actually cheaper than the US version, for whatever reason) are so close to my heart that they may in fact be fused with it. If I could snag a copy of Capcom Versus SNK 2 for it too, life may in fact be complete.

- Pre-order Info Portal Away!
- Also, Yuan Works Dev Blog.

Ginnybear and Company in the Asheville Mall is probably one of the weirdest, tiniest arcades I've been to in recent memory. It's essentially half weapons store/half arcade hang out. This has the potential of being the most awesome place on earth, but it has the Aura of Southern-ness that comes in and ruins most things around here. POW-MIA flags, camo nets draped on the walls and pictures of an American Eagle teaming up with a howling Wolf to battle the Dragon of Communism, etc. etc. (Okay, that last one isn't real, but someone should make it so. For... Science. And stuff. Yeah.)

Now because it's in the mall it can't actually sell stuff like, y'know, guns. It mostly consists of hunting knives, decorative weaponry and Airsoft rifles. And because of its claustrophobic location, weird placements occur. The knives are in close proximity to the DDR unit. This worried me until I realized the endless possibilities knife fighting could bring to the Bemani Rhythm platform. Oh, what's that? You cut in line in front of me? KNIFE KNIFE REVOLUTION IT IS. Add in the cheesy announcer going "I KNEW THAT BLOOD WAS IN YOUR HEART." and we have a new favorite Bloodsport!

All this is odd, but not show stopping. This is the South here. I've seen weirder crossover storefronts (My favorite is still the Gun/Vacuum Shoppe) No, what finally stopped me was the ticket counter and what I found in place of the traditional stale Tootsie Rolls:



Yes, that's right, kiddies. Your magical skee-ball journey has granted you the holy gift of Jack T. Chick! Enjoy eternally going to hell! Everywhere else, these are littered among our nations bathrooms, telephone booths and Waffle Houses. Not here! You work to get your damnation here, bucko!

I didn't see Dark Dungeons or Boo!, so I didn't investigate much further. Still, there has to be weirder things to grace the ticket counter that I am completely forgetting about. If so, let me know!

In other news, I really wish opting-out of the Mario Kart Wii message service actually opted you out of it. I'm tired of seeing the blue light come on the Wii only to see it's another damn time trial I don't care about.

[Apologies for the fuzzyness of the pic. I would say my cell phone sucks at being anything other than a phone, but it does a pretty poor job of that too.]

So, Mega Man 9 was/will be released today. I'm actually pretty pumped up for it. I've already spoiled myself to the soundtrack early last week (Galaxy Man's theme won't leave my brain, taking root and hanging out with the Mega Man 2 and 3 Wily Themes), but the idea that I'll be able to go home and play what is essentially a new NES Mega Man game? Elation!

Still, what I wouldn't give to have a time machine at this very moment. Admittedly, this would also be a bad idea, 'cause I'd spend all the time just messing up my own timelime. It'd probably go something like this:

Younger Me: [Humming the MM2 Wily Theme.]

Me: [Suddenly appears!] BEYOWZA!

Younger Me: Whoooa!

Me: Greetings, younger version of me! I've come from the future to bring you great tidings of what is to come and to be. Furthermore, I have-- Oh god, you're making the Rush Jet Skateboard, aren't you?

YM: Yeah! It's made of wood!*

Me: Well, of course! All kid projects have to be made of wood! It's clearly the most available and useful of all kids' projects materials, pliable to the extreme!

YM: And metal's hard to bend, and dad won't let me touch the welding tools. :(

Me: Trust me kid, it's for the best. But look, I brought video games!

YM: I'm distracted again!

Me: You better be, because it's the latest Mega Man game!

YM: Whoa, radical! You still have Mega Man!?

Me: And more! Let me just get things around to set it up [Hooks the Wii up to the TV]

YM: Why do you have a white toaster, future me?

Me: Oh, this? Eh, it's just a new Nintendo system. It's pretty okay.

YM: YOU MEAN BEYOND EVEN THE SUPER NINTENDO!?

Me: ... You... Just saw the tiny screencaps of Super Mario World in Nintendo Power, didn't you?

YM: ... Yes?

Me: Kid, there's a lot to look forward to in the future. I'm not going to ruin it all for you. Just... Close your eyes and wait, okay?

YM: No way-- Wait, why are you swinging your hand like-- OH NEATO! YOU MADE THAT THING MOVE WITH YOUR HAND THING!

Me: *sigh*

[20 minutes later, after he's done asking questions and ruining all the surprises for the next 15 years.]

Me: Alright, get ready! It's Mega Man 9 time!

YM: Hooray! I bet it, like, goes into your mind and I can pretend to be Mega Man around my neighborhood, doesn't it? Pew pew pew! [Arm cannon imatation motions.]

Me: You just watch, kid.

[The Screen comes up.]

YM: It... Looks like *my* Mega Man games.

Me: Yeah!

YM: ...

Me: ...

YM: Yay new Mega Man!

Me: Yeahhh!


Annnnnnnd... SCENE.


* Yes, I did attempt to do this. I also attempted to turn the entire backyard into a training ground for American Gladiators in fourth grade. It was probably also going to be made of wood.

My apologies in advance for contributing to the overabundance, but I just got my new digital camera, it's been raining for the last day and a half here and I really want to play with it while feeling semi-productive at the same time. SO GUESS WHERE I TURN TO? Yes, that's right: The viewers at home!

What do you do in a down that closes at 6PM, with the exception of the Wal-Mart (Which closes at 9)?

Well, play video games, of course. And here is where I partake in them!



(Yes, that is a Bullet Bill in the corner. I use it to lure unsuspecting guests into fearing for one of their lives. Also, yes, that is a master sword. I don't collect swords, but I figured if I had to have one, the Master Sword would be the way to go.)



This is actually only part of my collection, the more current part. Most of my nostalgic stuff is still at my folks' place in the next state over due to the fact that there's no way I could move my entire room over and live to tell the tale. Most importantly, it's there so whenever I go to visit them, I can actually try and beat the original version of Bionic Commando once and for all. Yes, I know I suck :(

Despite the fact that my place now has a +5 in making girls run away screaming in terror, I'm actually pretty happy with this setup. The problem with this town is that the nearest nightlife in any direction is 45 minutes. Unless you count the Waffle House, in which the PARTY NEVER STOPS. It's David Allen Coe night again, people! Let's go!

Finally, here is where I sit and rant. Ironically, I don't have any bold words to say about it, other than the Slayer poster is signed by Kerry King.

People of the CyberStellarNet, hear my cry! For once again, a new star is born unto this universe, unbeknowst to all of its citizens! But it is still here and it illuminates onwards, vanquishing the seemingly neverending darkness. That star... IS HERE.

Okay, was that dramatic enough? I never know how the hell to start any of these things. It's no good to go "Hey, how's it going! First (blog) post!" And it's never any fun to just mumble about and go right into the serious topics first. I don't have a decent camera to show off my bachelor pad (Which noone ever visits since I'm in the middle of nowhere.) and I don't really have any hot tips or rumors from the internet to begin this path of wayward destruction. I've had this user name for a while and thought about what to do with it. A couple of ideas sprang to mind, but nothing really "hit" me to type. So as I pondered throughout the lateness of the night, my good friend Aaron popped online.

"Hey, John" he typed. "I have the current batch of skits up on ye olde streaming video site. Here's the links."

Skits? Skits? Oh snap, that's right! I'm part of a sketch comedy group! And these videos happen to be concerning games of the video nature! When you can't think of anything to say, plugging videos on the internet is just as good as saying something, right? Right. We'll discuss it on the video reply later, my friend.

So, yes, Shameless Plugging it is!

In my spare time, I work with a friend of mine conspiring to create a sketch comedy thing called "Channel Z: The Last TV Station" (http://www.thelasttvstation.com/) We're only just starting out with the concept, but we've been plotting and conjuring up rare artifacts for the future well before this and we hope to have even more soon enough.

Let's begin.



For most of grade school, my knowledge of the military rank structure had two ranks: "The Contra Guy" and "Not the Contra Guy". Generally, the Not Contra Guys didn't get nearly as much respect from me as the former. And by not a lot of respect I mean, "set on fire". Then again, I spent an unhealthy amount of time in third grade trying to construct a Rush Jet skateboard, so this probably further solidifies just how delusional I was/am/will continue to be.



This was a random thing cooked up in between shooting the other skit. It's also why I'm no longer allowed to wear the gas mask. Roy Campbell called and told him I was coming to crash the party anyway. :(

Hope you guys enjoy these as much as we enjoyed making them. Any sort of comments and criticism are certainly welcome and in fact encouraged. Dances of deligh or even of sorrow are also encouraged, but only so we can buy time to ward off the evil spirits surrounding such incantations.

As for what the future holds? Well, now that I've gotten first post syndrome out of the way, I have a few ideas that are begging for some actual commentary. Perhaps I shall share it soon with all of you! Until then, have fun!

Now, I go pick up my Korg DS-10 import because UPS apparently thought I moved out of my house since the last time they delivered a package here. Bah!