SDCC 2011

This year, for the first time ever, I will be going to Comic-Con International in San Diego. I don't think I can sufficiently express how excited I am for this in words. I will be making the epic journey with my amazing pal, Andrea, and we will have a fantastic time. I am a little nervous, though. I haven't been to the States in about 16 years. I haven't been out of the country in about 5. I do really enjoy travelling, but I really don't do much of it, so it is a little nerve-racking every time a trip comes up. And most of my trips over the last few years have been within Canada (Vancouver a few times, Toronto once, and some other places not worth mentioning). This small-town Canadian nerd just doesn't get out enough.

Anyway, I am very excited for San Diego. I'm interested to see what artists and writers will be at the convention, not to mention celebrities and what-not. And we'll be right in the action with any of the exciting news and announcements that always seem to come out of these things. And there is no one in the world I'd rather go to something like this than my right-hand-geek, Andrea. Now if only registration would FINALLY open up.

Well, this post isn't anywhere nearly as exciting as I had intended it to be, but it wasted a few minutes of my boring Saturday night at home, so mission accomplished! Now I'm going to research things to do in San Diego and the surrounding area. If you have any ideas, let me know! (he says to his non-existant following...)

The History of Gaming

Today I'm going to introduce another recurring theme post on my blog. Again, it is video game related, but don't be fooled into thinking this is a video game blog. Oh no. It is about more than that. It is full of ALL KINDS of geeky stuff! But I'm getting off topic.

The History of Gaming! Now, I don't mean in a general sense. I mean MY history in particular. And in the beginning, there was NES. The Nintendo Entertainment System. We got the NES when I was probably 3 or 4 years old. Clearly I was a Nintendo fan right from a young age. I don't really remember much about life back then, but my earliest memories are of my cousin Brandi staying with us for a bit and playing one of the Mario games pretty much non-stop.

It wasn't until a few years later that I really learned how to play video games. We had the old Mario Bros. 1 through 3, the second (which isn't really a Mario game...) was mine, and I loved it. I remember getting it for Christmas one year. It was a big deal. We also had Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, some dumb football game that I could never figure out, and my favourite, Bubble Bobble.

One of my fondest memories of Bubble Bobble was playing it for hours with my Dad. I was terrible at it, so eventually it would just be him on his own, but I had so much fun. Blowing bubbles and popping enemies, running away from the evil skeletal whale thing that terrified me. Eventually, the fun would end when my older brother let a friend borrow the game, and that friend's house was burglarized, resulting in the loss of my favourite game.

But all was not lost, we still had our other games, and we would occasionally rent new ones. I'm not sure for exactly how long we had the NES, but it seemed like forever when I was a kid. But one fateful day, when my younger brother and I were playing Super Mario Bros. 3, the unthinkable happened! Do you remember the minigame that you could play when both of you selected the same level on the world screen? It was actually an even older iteration of the Mario Bros., I believe. Well, Paul and I were playing the minigame, and I kept winning ('cause I'm amazing! and also modest), so he got angry and threw the controller at the floor, as we often did when we got angry playing games. There was thick shag carpeting! Nothing bad would happen! ...right? Wrong. The controller ricocheted off the floor and hit the NES with enough force that it never worked again. I was devastated. We tried to make it work again, but eventually we realized that it was kaput, and my gaming life was over.

Except it wasn't. But that's another story for...

The History of Gaming!

The Nintendo Hero

So! With this post, I'm going to introduce a new recurring theme post I'd like to call The Nintendo Hero. See how it's similar to The Noble Hero? You know, thenoblehero, my chosen nickname? Yeah, that's what I was going for.

So, what's this new recurring theme post about? My love for Nintendo, of course! I would like to take a moment to point out that I am in no way affiliated with or sponsored by Nintendo, but if they noticed me, that would be cool too.

Anyway, I wanted to make this post to commemorate the introduction of the Nintendo 3DS! The announcements have been coming in for a while now, but the official North American press thingie was a couple days ago, so new news! Woo!

The USD price point of $249.99 isn't surprising, and to me seems totally fair, considering what all the portable gaming device has to offer in comparison previous handhelds. One interesting thing I've noticed in my online research, though, is that the price is the same in the US as it is in Canada! I had fully expected to be paying $279.99 or $289.99, but with the dollar being pretty much on par, it appears the pricing will be the same! This new revelation does ruin my plan of buying it in the States when I'm down there in the summer, but really, it's probably better this way. I won't have to worry about packing a big chunk of extra cash on me. I can save my money for more important things, like food and souvenirs.

The release date of March 27th would be exciting and have me lining up to get one on launch day, except that there aren't really any games I want coming out at launch. I think I might pick up Nintendogs + cats, but it's hardly exciting enough to run out and get the 3DS right away. Where's Paper Mario 3D? Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D? Even their flagship title that they've been pushing, Kid Icarus: Uprising, won't be out at launch. It is interesting to note that the Future Shop website has Kid Icarus and Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance (the other game that I really want) with a release date of March 27th. I'm curious where they've gotten their information, if they are jumping the gun, or if they've got some inside info that no one else has.

So, that's pretty much all I wanted to say. I'm totally stoked for the Nintendo 3DS, and I can't wait for both the 27th of March, and more info on release dates of all the awesome games! Until next time...