Icon. Showstoppah. Main Eventah.

I went to McDonalds today. Not for food, but because they are

a) giving away glass Coke classes (ala the 1950’s) with a purchase

b) They have Transformers kid meals and I really wanted the Optimus Prime toy.

Diehard GameFAN’s “My. Best. Game. Ever.” feature

It’s just 15 of my staffers (and me) talking about what their favorite game is and why. Take a look. Leave a note on what your favorite game is, and let me know what you thought mine was before you read the article.

Dungeons and Dragons Tactics
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Kuju Entertainment
Genre: Tactical RPG
Release Date: 08/14/2007

D&D Tactics came out nearly a year ago and it was a game I had been looking forward to since it was first announced. I was never a D&D table topper, but I always loved the games, going as far back as SSI’s Eye of the Beholder. Hell, I think I’ve played every D&D licensed game made. This was going to be the game that was going to finally make me buy a PSP.

Then came the reviews. And my oh my, were they not flattering. There were complaints about the animation, graphics, and the camera angle. I was like “How can you screw up a camera angle of a tactics game? It’s not possible.” So I put off purchasing a PSP for a few months until Konami sent me the god awful Silent Hill Origins and the awesome Dracula X Chronicles to review. I kind of needed one then.

For months though a little voice inside me kept saying, “You should pick it up. Pick it up. SRPG’s are your favorite type of RPG. You love D&D games. Remember how fun Neverwinter Nights was? Get it. Get it!”

And so I eventually did. What I discovered is that the old adage of “Most US based reviewers don’t get SRPG’s” is true. Operation Darkness has been dragged through the mud, but pretty much everyone who is a true connoisseur of these types of games adores it. What I discovered is that most of the negative claims made by reviewers turned out to be completely false. Or simply that they hadn’t actually played the game enough (or at all) to discover something. Go take a look at Gameranking’s list for this game and you’ll notice the RPG specialist sites like RPGFan praising D&D Tactics, while the sites that cater more to the FPS/Action crowd and are woefully ignorant of RPG’s as a whole (Gamespot, GameSpy, IGN) hated the game because they simply didn’t understand it, and god forbid a reviewer should EVER step outside the one or two genres they consider their comfort zone.

Bottom line, Dungeons and Dragons Tactics is easily the best SRPG I’ve played since Disgaea and the best D&D themed game since Bioware’s remake of Neverwinter Nights. Let’s take a look at why this game is so good, shall we?
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A really great article by Time that I agree with on every point. We needed this kick in the ass.

Man things have flown by.

1. Mowed the lawn yesterday. Yay for exercise.

2. Watched In Bruges last night. How the fuck is that movie supposed to be a comedy? It was dark, violent, depressing, and the only laughing I did was out of nervousness. Mediocre film that I probably won’t watch again.

3. Baby has been moved back in with Chewie. The fought for an hour or two Monday as she came in and scented everything and that made Chewie territorial. he kind of liked being back on his own I think, and he became a lot more playful instead of stand-offish while she was gone. he’s keeping the “Pet me now simian like being!” attitude since she moved back. Baby has become acclimated to living in my bathroom though, so even those I cleaned and scrubbed it yesterday, she took Chewie on a tour of it and I could see her hopping back and forth between the bedroom and there all night.

4. Writing the D&D Tactics review today and editing a big feature for us that goes live tomorrow.

5. Hellboy: SOE review outhit everything on the site yesterday by a rate of 2-1 over the next most popular article. I knew this would be a big game to cover for the site.

6. You ever have that feeling where you feel like you’re going to vomit, nay NEED to vomit, but the gag reflex isn’t there? That’s how I feel today.

Man, what a weekend. Saturday wasn’t much better than Friday with it’s hideous hair disaster.

I woke up and saw that my hair turned into a giant mushroom cap from the night’s sleep. not a problem, right? I have a straightening iron! Which…turned out to be at the office because Aimee asked me to bring it in a while back to play with my hair. D’oh.

I went for a nice run and learned that my hair is not ponytail-able so that my hair is at that length where it is in my face constantly during exercise…but there is no way for me to tie it back.

I went for breakfast after I ran and asked for a glass of Pineapple juice. I took a big gulp…and it was Grapefruit juice. Grapefruit juice brings on laryngitis with me.

I come home from the run and find Heather and Vlad locked me out of the house. Unintentionally. Running shorts don’t have pockets and I always get up in the morning and leave my keys on the table as a “HEY! I’m out running! No keys!” thing. But this morning they forgot. So I called Heather and was like “I’m locked out! I have a date a two. Where are you?”

“Gathersburg, MD” was the reply.

….

So Heather and I talk and I try a few windows. No good until I get to the guest bedroom which moved up somewhat. I thought it was enough to get in. I was wrong.

So there I am stuck in a window frame thanks to my ass. Half in, half out hoping to god no cops come by. Have you ever tried to move a jammed window with only your ass and your lumbar region from a horizontal position? IT IS NOT FUN MY FRIENDS!

I get home change, deseperately try to do something with my hair and run on down to the bus. While on the bus I get a call from my date who is nursing a BAD hangover and asks if she can resechedule.

Fuck.

The rest of the evening was spent finishing the last two levels of Hellboy: Science of Evil. As it has recieved the lowest score I have given in 3-4 years, that should tell you something.

Sunday was a much better day. I slept in really late, played with the bunnies, took pictures for a Pokemon article, and went to see WALL-E. it was much better than most Pixar movies, but I preferred the short in front of it with the bunny and the magician.

I came home, worked out, watched a documentary on the discovery of Longitude, played with rabbits, played some D&D tactics to where I am one hit killing Liches, and watched some Venture Bros and ate awesome gumbo.

Now it is Monday. I’ve straightened my hair and it looks…liveable. By sunday night, my hair had grown 1/4th of an inch since Friday, which is totally insane, but it is a testament to either willpower or a benevolent Diety and I can now slightly get the hair into a ponytail. Huzzah.

My Rabbids interview is doing crazy hits for us. We had a 60% traffic increase since last week and tons of sites are linking to us. DHGF is thankfully fun for everyone involved.

This week is pretty light. 4 day week. I have an Australian game to review called City Life 2008, but that’s it schedulewise. Other than that it is just hanging out and relaxing with a nice 4 day weekend coming up.

Hellboy: The Science of Evil
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Krome Studios
Genre: Beat ‘Em Up
Release Date: 06/24/2008

Krome studios is probably known for two franchises: Ty the Tasmanian Tiger and their revamp of Spyro. Needless to say as both are platformers, I’ve never bothered with them. They also did one of the Viva Pinata games, but that’s another series I’ve never touched.

So why did I choose to review this game? Three reasons.

1. I really like Hellboy. The comics and the movies at least. But I’ve never been a fan of any of the video games.

2. The new Hellboy movie is coming out soon and it’s good tie-in coverage

3. The game came with free movie cash to the movie.

Now I admit those are pretty bad reasons to review a game, but with the PSP nearly dead in terms of new games and content, I wanted to get as much use out of my little portable as I can before it becomes a retro system ala my Game Gear or Neo*Geo Pocket Colour.

The PSP version of Science of Evil promised to be a different experience from the PS3 and 360 versions of the game, while incorporating the same plot and voice actors from the console games (who of course, are also the actors in the movie). So was Hellboy: Science of Evil worth the money or is the Hellboy franchise 0-3 for quality video gaming?
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So….I’m tempted to let that say it all, but I won’t because currently thanks to the hairdresser not listening to me multiple times I now look like Trent Reznor circa 1999. Which is especially sad because I made that joke when I first walked out of the salon and then one of my friends just happened to have a Rolling Stone from ‘99 with him on the cover and it’s true. Although Bat will be extra pleased with this….I am not.

So I go down to Shirlington to the big fancier salon they have there. I tell them I am donating to locks of love and I get a bunch of “awwws” and three hairdressers trying to talk me out of it because I have the best hair they’ve ever seen on a guy. I tell them ten inches which would put it just at my shoulders when my hair is wet. Dry my hair is curly that it goes above my pecs. Sopping wet or straight it touches the tip of my six pack. I have donated every year or so since returning to the States. I know this process.

So we mark off 10 inches with a pony tail holder and I say “just right below the poytail holder so it comes to the shoulders” once again.

Well….it didn’t work out that way.

SNIP SNIP SNIP.

“Wow, that’s ummm…much shorter than I asked for. That’s the bottom of my Jaw”

Oh. Now it’s uneven. I need to even it out for you.

“No Really. It actually looks okay. I can salvage…

SNIP

“What are you doing? You just cut another inch and a half off!”

Now I have to do the other side so it is even

“Well yes. NOW YOU DO, DON’T YOU?”

Worst off, they still made me pay for this travesty. The other hairdresses were really unhappy with her not listening to me repeatedly and this black chick got in her face because she loved my hair. The one alternative type hairdresser (there’s one everywhere isn’t there?) made the first Reznor quip of the day and I’ve been hearing them since (Although my friend Chris made that observation back in 11 of ‘03).

It’s okay. It’s salvagable. My hair grows about an inch a month, so it will be the length I wanted her to cut it to by oh…MY BIRTHDAY.

I know I should be okay with this as my hair grows back really quickly and even now I still have more hair than all of my male relatives and spouses of my female relatives combined AND that some little girl is going to have one of the best wigs ever made because I have hair that rocks. But I just can’t help feeling like I look like I should be listening to Bright Eyes or some other craptastic Emo-Indy fusion and wearing awful clothes that we made fun of people for wearing in the late 60’s and 70’s but have somehow become hip due to a misuse of the word irony.

So yeah. I don’t even have enough to put in a ponytail and I suppose on my date tomorrow afternoon I’ll be fucking like an animal. I looked about ten years younger than I really am with my long hair but now? Holy shit I’m “Dave Foley in Newsradio” young looking. I’m “I can’t let you go see this movie without a parent or guardian” young.

It was for little girls with cancer. It was for little girls with cancer. It was for little girls with cancer.

Rabbids, Pikachu, Black Flag, and playing video games with your ass.

I love the French!

Holy crap this week has flown by.

Yesterday I brought Baby home and she was reluctant to get out of her carrier. I was told to keep her away from all other animals for a week and to ensure she doesn’t exert herself. Sadly, that list of animals includes Mr. Chewie Biteums. I decided they should at least SEE each other. I wrangled up Chewie after a long rundown and brought him into the bathroom, which has been turned into a playpen for Baby. Baby instantly saw him and got excited and came out of her hidey hole. Chewie then sat on her.

This is when I realized that yes, seperating the two for a week is a good idea.

So I’ve banned India the cat from coming downstairs for the week so that Baby can relax in the room of electronics with me on the couch when she gets sit of burrowing in blankets and rugs.

I had a date last night but I called and cancelled it so that I could spend the evening with Baby. she was just so happy to be home, she fell asleep on the couch with me while watching Charlie Bartlett (good movie!)

That was pretty much the evening - keeping on eye on Baby, playing Hellboy and getting stuff done.

This weekend I’ve got the rescheduled date, the Hellboy review to write and one last article to do.