Icon. Showstoppah. Main Eventah.

Jesus god, in 24 hours I have now designed 15 ads for various charities. The deadline to get them in to the publisher is today and we were told after I left yesterday (after putting in a 10 hour day) we need to format the ads ourselves. And they still haven’t given me the dimensions column spread or anything. After having some words with them the deadline has been pushed back towards Tuesday but I’m still pissed at the sloppiness that tends to go along with every other editor on the planet but myself and Becky. Granted, I can’t edit myself,but most people can. How hard is it to get your customer stats for your publications? Jesus, fuck.

Nearly done Adam Nimoy’s “Anti-Memoir.” This was one of those uncorrected proof/review copies sent to me via Amazon and the publisher and I have to say, it’s one of the best (and funniest) biographies I’ve ever read. It’ll be the book of the week for next week for sure.

I finally found out how I got into the reviewers circle with various book/dvd publishers. Nyogtha. It turns out a bunch of old readers are in the publishing industry and wanted me to write something other then video gaming bullshit, so they got together and put me through for the gig. God knows I was the last to know, but thank you guys for thinking of me and getting me more free stuff. I will say that my free time is nil at this point from every company on the planet deciding my opinion is more valid then most (It’s not, but thanks for the ego boost!), but generally said free time is doing stuff with Kim or I’ll be going down to the State fair in a few weeks and probably saying hi to Joy or one of my other friends on an all day excersion, so having books and DVD’s to review gives me an excuse to spend more time petting the rabbits.

Outcry arrived yesterday. Very nice Adventure game and possible nominee for the point n’ click award of the year. It’s City of Lost Children meets From Beyond. Weird and awesome and fucked up.

This weekend should be mostly laid back. Hmmm. Nandos?

I wrote this up for Amazon on Monday, but I forgot to put it in here. D’oh. Chalk it up to doing print advertisments for 140 or so charities for the CFC, and getting swag for reviews by Amazon. Yay print design work! Boo for explaining web quality vs. print quality graphics. Anyway. here’s the book.

When I picked up The Bordeaux Betrayal, I had no idea it was the third book in the series. I picked it up mainly because I had just finished reading The Billionaire’s Vinegar and thouight it would be a good plunge back into fiction after that.

I found this to be one of the best mysteries I have read in years. All of the characters are well developed, albeit flawed individuals and I had a hard time putting it down.

The book is told from a first person perspective by Lucie Montgomery, the main character in the book. Lucie is 30-ish owner of a vineyard preparing for a charity wine auction. The prize piece from this auction is a Jeffersonian wine that was meant to be a gift for George Washington, but when an irreputable writer on wine hints to Lucie that there is something amiss with the bottle, Lucie begins to wonder if she has a fake on her hands. Things compound when this writer, who is also having an intimate relationship with the man she believes to be her cousin’s fiance, turns up quite dead the next day.

From there the book spirals into a mystery filled with a large array of characters, all of whom are interconnected as both friends and neighbors with attitudes and alliances constantly shifting. The end of the whodunit is a bit out of left field with another murder, the invoking of Godwin’s Law, and a slightly unsatisfactory ending, but make no mistake about it, the book is a high paced page turner with a lot of detail to not only the character’s personalities, but the surroundings of the Virginia Wine region.

I was also quite happy that the book stands alone on its own. Having not read either of Ms. Crosby’s previous two novels in this series, I was a bit worried that there would be a lot of continuity and back story that would be needed in order to enjoy the book. I am happy to say there is no issue as such, and that I am looking forward to reading the other books in the series.

This was a great little find, and although it has a few small flaws that were mentioned above, I think The Bordeaux Betrayal is a wonderful book that will appeal to most mystery fans.

I had a lovely three day weekend. Saturday was a lot of exercising and then seeing Hamlet 2 which was quite amusing. That’ll be an eventual addition to the DVD collection.

Sunday saw me drive up to Hanover, PA, which is Kim’s home, and do the Chili Cook-Off they have there. I got there early as Kim let me know it was a very religious conservative town. Now you’re probably thinking I went there to get in and get out, but the real reason I got there early is I figured most people would be at church early on which would leave me with clear shots at all the chili varities. And I was right. By the time the crowd really got going I had tasted two servings of each kind of chili. Oh lord. Oddly enough, the collection of beans and fibery goodness never hit me.

On the way home I stopped in Gettysburg as it was on the way and I had never been. I guess it’s interesting if you are a Civil War buff but for me, it was just a bunch of fields. In retrospecti should have taken pictures and done a follow-up Nyogtha to one I did a few years ago.

The rest of Sunday was writing the Disgaea review and watching some A&E haunting documentaries Amazon sent me to review. I’m liking the books and DVD’s Amazon is sending me for free these days as it mixes up with the games I have to review and keeps me from burnout.

Monday was a loaf day of just playing Disgaea, reading, playing with rabbits, exercising and watching the hit counter on DHGF explode. yesterday we did twice the hits we did the day CNN linked to us. I’m just hoping my guys can keep the content coming to keep the new audience coming back for more.

This week I’ve got nothing on my plate. Amazon is sending me a set of Travel Channel documentaries on haunted places which is no doubt at TC’s urging and a book or two. No video games though so it’ll be a nice relaxing week for me. At least at home.

Disgaea 3
Publisher: Nippon Ichi America
Developer: Nippon Ichi
Genre: SRPG
Release Date: 08/27/2008

We’ve all been big fans of the Disgaea series here at DHGF. At least at first. In 2003 the original Disgaea won damn near every award it was nominated for, including our GOTY. In 2006, Disgaea 2 won our best SRPG award. Now it’s 2008 and Disgaea 3 has arrived on the PS3.

I’ve always been the Nippon Ichi guy around here, having raved about Rhapsody since it came out, and having reviewed D2, Phantom Brave, and Makai Kingdom, I have to say I’ve enjoyed every NIS SRPG I’ve played, even if I do feel they’ve been going to the well once to often and even regressed a bit with Disgaea 2 jettisoning a lot of the innovation from PB and MK.

So how is the third Disgaea? It’s the first SRPG for the system and its MSRP is ten dollars less then most games, but is it still worth buying?
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Review: My Chinese Coach (NDS)
Developer: Sensory Sweep
Publisher: Ubisoft
Genre: Educational
Release Date: 08/27/2008

Okay, two rambling stories. First, in the beginning of 2007 my friend Dan wanted to go to China and thus wanted to take a Chinese class so that he could know some basic words as both a sign of respect to the natives and also to help him if he got lost. He didn’t want to take it alone, so he asked me and I said yes. We spent the next few months in an introduction to Mandarin class that ran once a week for three hours. It was a lot of fun and I would have loved to take a follow up but I moved shortly thereafter.

Story #2. While attending a Pokemon event at Toys R Us, I spied a copy of My French Coach for $15 bucks. I speak French pretty well but I am a believer in constantly practicing my language skills to ensure I don’t forget anything and decided to buy it so I had something other then Pokemon games for my DS. Well, it turned out to be one of the best purchases I’d ever made. I absolutely adored the game and how it taught you to write and speak francais. It still remains one of the best games I’ve ever played on the DS.

So with My Chinese Coach, you can see how the two stories go together. Mandarin however, is a very different language from French and due to the five tones and the completely different way of writing, I was curious how the game would be able to teach this added element in addition to everything else.

So how was the game? Is it worth your thirty bones, or would your money be better spent saving up for a Rosetta Stone set of cd’s.

That’s the language tutor, not the awesome band.
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Murder in the Abbey
Developer: Alcachofa Soft
Publisher: The Adventure Company
Genre: Adventure
Release Date: 08/30/2008

Murder in the Abbey, or just, The Abbey as the game tends to call itself, was a title I was looking forward to all year. Heck, I’ve been watching it for more than a year actually, checking in on the developer’s website every few weeks and really enjoying how it was a homage to the visuals of the old Lucasarts point and click games like Grim Fandango, and The Secret of Monkey Island. I fell in love with the art style the second I saw it and thankfully, The Adventure Company decided to bring it over saving me the cost and time to import the title from Europe via Crimson Cow.

God knows this has been the month for adventure games, with the quality being as high as The Sinking Island and as low as Dracula 3. Murder in the Abbey marks my fifth Adventure game this MONTH, but it’s also the one I’ve been most excited to play. So did my journey to a Benedictine Abbey live up to my own personal hype, or did it fall as flat as a certain other fang filled Adventure game that came out this month?
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Did reviews of the Genghis Kahn DVD and a book for Amazon last night. I’ll be doing a review of Murder in the Abbey tonight and one of My Chinese Coach Friday and then one of Disgaea 3 on Monday. This is a busy fucking week. I also have another booker Amazon sent me to review. Jesus, between video game companies and now Amazon, I’m getting most of the things I usually purchased for entertainment for free. Still, lots of busy writing.

The Great Outdoor Fight arrived yesterday and it’s very snazzy.

I’m looking forward to delicious, delicious chili on Sunday. I’ll probably go see Hamlet 2 on Saturday or Monday, depending on what my schedule looks like. Anyone seen it yet? A nice morning jog with a 12:30 showing sounds nice.

Duckman comes out of DVD in a few weeks. I had nearly forgotten about that show. Man, I loved Duckman.

Alas, Venture Bros. is over for another season. Not enough Orpheus this season though. Orpheus and the Monarch are my favorites, but damned if Tim-Tom and Kevin haven’t claimed the #3 spot. Freaky pervert psycho midgets.

I’m a Stranger Here Myself was a book written by Bill Bryson upon moving back to the United States after living two decades abraod in England. It is also known as Notes From a Big Country in England and while both versions have some exclusive content and little differences, they are fundamentally the same book.
This is the first Bill Bryson book I ever read and it became my gateway into travelogues. Bryson remains my favorite travel writer, although his books on history and the English language are complete crap.

Each “chapter” in the book is actually a weekly column he wrote in a British newspaper called the Daily Mail(Which was the preferred paper of choice for Elisa and her parents). They range from the differences between the two countries postal services to his first experiences with a basement (something they don’t have across the pond). It’s quite a funny read and it’s a wonderful example of how we may speak the same language, but there is a huge difference between the two countries. It’s pretty cheap these days on Amazon I believe, and although I prefer A Walk in the Woods and The Thunderbolt Kid, this is probably the best book to break you in on Bryson.

Fading Shadows
Developer: Ivolgamus
Publisher: Agetec
Genre: Puzzle
Release Date: 8/28/2008

Well, never let it be said that we here at Diehard GameFAN don’t give a lot of attention to the under the radar games. To be honest I’ve never heard of Ivolgamus until Agetec decided to bring over two of their titles to the US.

I’m pretty much a sucker for Agetec games as they’ve brought to America titles I love like Board Game Top Shop, RPG Maker, Echo Night and Clock Tower. I’m also deficient in any sort of puzzle games for my PSP save for Lumines which I don’t really play per say…

So Agetc + puzzle game equals an “I’ll review it!” response from me. After all the last puzzle game of theirs that I picked up was Puzzle Star Sweep and I adored it. Plus the fact the review copy came with a bag of marbles (something I’ve actually never played before) was a cute little marketing gimmick.

So how was Fading Shadows? Was it another quality title brought over by Agetec, or did this one fall under the category of Shadow Tower?
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Friday - Went to Ikea and had lunch with Aimee and got a crap load of work done. Came home, worked out and got a crap load of writing done.

Saturday - I was up at 8am to drive to Great Falls National Park in MD to go hiking with Kim and a bunch of her friends. AND a bunch of their kids. I think I knew I was in for a bit of trouble when one of the kids was dressed as Ash Kethcum and two had homemade t shirts from a summer camp they attended with Pikachu emblazened on them.

What followed was 7-8 miles of hiking and rock climbing intermixed with, and I shit you not, FIVE HOURS of nonstop Pokemon chatter from children. The only time it stopped was when they were eating or drinking and even then that was not always the case. All the adults, including Kim at some point were said one of the following phrases:

“I’m so sorry. They’re just really excited to meet you.”

“Do you want me to tell them to change the topic?”

“Thank you SO MUCH for being patient with the kids.”

The funny thing was at no time was I exhausted or annoyed. I mean, they’re children. Children tend to have one track minds and if you have a gaggle of Pokemon loving kids in one spot, of course the conversation is going to be one topic and one topic only. It’s like an Anime convention or comic con or the like. Even as adults we do this. So I was fine it. They were well behaved kids. They just REALLY liked Pokemon. I guess I can’t get annoyed or bored when I see these children enjoying someting that I’ve had a hand in, no matter how minute. It’s things like Saturday that remind me why I do the things I do.

So it was a lot of fun hiking from about 10am-3pm. The views were great, the trails were hard and I got an amazing amount of exercise out of that. After the hike, Kim’s kids went with her friends and the two of us went into DC. We ate at Nando’s, then walked all around DC, for about 5-6 miles or so. We did some touristy stuff like the Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, WWII, Korean and other monuments/memorials and then we had a late supper at Jaleo. We also discovered that they are opening a WAGAMAMA in D.C. Holy crap, is that awesome! We parted about 11-ish, and then I came home, watched a Speed Grapher DVD, showered, and called it a night.

Sunday: LAZY day. I got up about 11, wrote two articles, finished Speed Grapher, and well, that was really it. I had no energy or drive, which is really rare. I was just mentally and physically exhausted from Friday and Saturday and so I was in a bit of a funk. I played so Fading Shadows which was sent to me Saturday while I was out. It’s an okay game. Nothing special. Other then that, I did absolutely nothing of note.

Next Sunday I’m going up to Hanover, PA with Kim for the largest chili cook-off east of the Mississippi river. Five bucks for all you can eat of FIFTY different chilis. It’s a veritable FOGO De Chili. Should be a lot of fun, although I’ll probably want to roll the windows down coming home.

All and all an awesome three days. Now it’s time for a busy work week.