The E3 Rundown

E3 was last week! And you know what that means: time for thenoblehero's recap of awesomeness! I was going to talk about everything E3, but then I realized how bored I was writing about it, so I'm just gonna skip through my favourite things. Just a warning, it'll be pretty much all Nintendo, 'cause Nintendo wins E3.

First thing: more new characters for Super Smash Bros. were announced! Mii Fighters in three customizable varieties are on their way, so finally you can enter the battle. They also added Palutena from Kid Icarus (cool I guess? I'm not really big on that series), and Pac-Man! Now they've got mascots from a bunch of the big video game companies, and they showed off a battle between Mario, Sonic, Mega Man, and Pac-Man to demonstrate.

Next up, Nintendo showed off its next Yoshi game: Yoshi's Woolly World. I've always liked Yoshi, but I've never actually bought a Yoshi game. This game is changing that. It just looks so adorable and very fun. Yoshi is a crochet doll version of himself! I'm really looking forward to this game.

Another new game I'm looking forward to is Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. This game spins directly out of Super Mario 3D World where there are little sidequest-like levels in which you take control of Captain Toad and go through an odd little 3D puzzle level. I'm not describing it well. This game takes that concept and dials it way up giving the titular character more abilities and more complicated levels to get through. It looks awesome.

There are two new Zelda games coming. Hyrule Warriors is a mashup of Zelda and Dynasty Warriors. It looks pretty fun, and you get to play as a bunch of different Zelda characters (including Zelda herself). It's a hack and slash action game that's sure to be a hit. The other is a new formal Legend of Zelda game (currently untitled) that is probably still quite a ways out, but the quick video they showed looks beautiful! I am very much looking forward to seeing more.

There was a little bit of news about Pokémon Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby at and around E3, as well. There was a trailer showing off a little bit of gameplay, and four new Mega Evolutions, plus two Primal Evolutions were shown off. Mega Sceptile and Mega Swampert will round off the 3rd generation starters' mega forms. Mega Diancie and Mega Sableye made appearances, and the versions of the legendary pokémon on the box-art have been revealed to be Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre. Clearly I'm excited for these games.

Nintendo also showed off a new game called Splatoon, which could be a pretty big hit. I recommend looking it up 'cause I don't think I can describe it and give it justice. It's a team battle game where you play as little squid people who spray coloured ink everywhere to take over as much territory as possible. You can turn into a squid and swim through the ink rapidly, but get stuck when you hit the opposing team's ink. Like I said, it sounds odd, but looks great!

The last game I'm going to mention is a new game exclusive to Xbox One called Scalebound. It looks like you play as a dragon knight battling monsters and stuff. The trailer looks fantastic. Go find it!

Better yet, I'll post links below. If I can figure it out. Perhaps I'll post liks to all the trailers of games I'm excited for but don't feel like talking about, too! Yeah! I may later give my impression of the actual press conferences too, but at this point, probably not... Anyway! Links below!

Nintendo:

Super Smash Bros. for 3DS - October 3rd, 2014
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U - Holiday 2014
Yoshi's Woolly World - Holiday 2014
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker - Holiday 2014
Hyrule Warriors - September 26th, 2014
The Legend of Zelda - TBA 2015
Pokémon Omega Ruby - November 21st, 2014
Pokémon Alpha Sapphire - November 21st, 2014
Splatoon - TBA 2015
Mario Maker - TBA 2015
Fantasy Life - October 2014
Mario Party 10 - TBA 2015
Mario vs. Donkey Kong - TBA 2015
Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright - August 29th, 2014

Xbox One:
Scalebound - TBA 2015?
Assassin's Creed: Unity - October 28th, 2014
Dragon Age: Inquisition - October 7th, 2014
Sunset Overdrive - October 28th, 2014
Ori and the Blind Forest - Fall 2014

PS4:
inFAMOUS: First Light - August 2014
Ratchet & Clank - TBA 2015?
LittleBigPlanet 3 - November 2014

PC:
The Sims 4 - September 2nd, 2014

Video Games vs. Real Life

So... The other day I had a weird thought while walking home from the train station after work. There was this guy just standing there half a block away from a bus stop, just... waiting. And my immediate thought was, "What the heck is he doing there? Should I ask him what he's up to? It's none of my business, but he's weirding me out." That just seems to be where my mind goes. He must be up to something.

But then I started wondering why I have that reaction... The world is such an untrusting place nowadays. What happened to the old days of smiling and saying hi to random strangers? I'm a friendly person, but I think I'm afraid to talk to strangers for fear of what they might say or do back.

It's funny, though, 'cause it got me started thinking about video games. I'll preface this by saying I've been playing a lot (A LOT) of Pokémon Y since it came out a week and a half ago. In all of the Pokémon games, and most role playing games in general, in order to progress through the game, you need to speak to all of the NPCs (non-playable characters) to get information. Sometimes they even have special items for you. So there's motivation to talk to everyone you run into.

So if talking to everyone you meet is encouraged in video games, why not real life? Maybe I should just walk around and talk to every person I meet. Maybe they'll have something interesting to tell me. Who knows? Maybe I'd learn some valuable life skills and knowledge!

Then there's the other side of that... Can you imagine if I just started going around to everyone I meet like, "Hi! What do you have to tell me?" Or better yet, "Hey! Do you have anything for me??" I think I'd start to get some really strange looks and reactions. But I almost wanna try it out, just to see what people would do.

Anyway, this was just a random string of thoughts that went through my head. Hopefully it won't be so long before I blog again. No promises.

He Liked It, So He Put a Ring On It

I hate when I can't think of anything to blog about. I'm sitting here in Starbucks drinking my free giant coffee flipping through websites and twitter and Facebook trying to find inspiration, and it's just not working. I'm trying to think about what I've been up to this week, but I'm coming up blank on nerdy topics. Huh.

I haven't played much in the way if video games. I can't seem to focus on anything when I sit down in front of the Xbox. I played a little bit of Defiance, but I'm sort of awful at shooters so I stopped pretty quickly. But I want to play it! Same with Bioshock Infinite. I played a little but but quit pretty early into it 'cause I'm not very good at it, and I can't seem to sit still. I should just start one of my Lego games. I've got Lego Batman 2: DC SuperHeroes, and Lego Pirates of the Caribbean that I haven't started yet, and those games tend to keep me hooked.

I read a book really fast for a change. Maybe that's why I can't focus on video games: I'm in reading mode. I read The Rise of Nine (Lorien Legacies #3) in about a week and a half. It's not a terribly difficult read, but that's the most focused on a book I've been in a long time. It was really good! I love that series. I'm pretty sure I've talked about it here before.

You know PSY, right? That South Korean pop star that made the viral hit "Gangnam Style." You know the one. Well, he has a new video out. And it's terrible. Just terrible. But I couldn't help watching it. Like a train wreck, you can't tear your eyes away. Here, just look.

http://youtu.be/ASO_zypdnsQ

Gentleman. Not even. I dunno. Some Marvel guys were tweeting about it the other day and I had to check it out. It made me sad.

In other news: I am engaged! It's been announced on Facebook already, but I'll announce it here too. My Rob proposed a little over two weeks ago. I'm very excited about it, and can't wait to move to be with him. It's making me slightly miserable being away from him. That might also have a little bit to do with my inability to focus on anything that usually makes me happy. I just wanna be in Vancouver, where my heart is.

Anyway. It's time for work. I hope you all have a happy Saturday! And don't forget that there's new Doctor Who on tonight!

Early Morning Rambling

Okay, so, I'm getting really tired of this winter crap. It just keeps dragging on. I know, I know: it's PG. Winter lasts until May some years. But come on! Can't we have spring on time for once? There's green grass and flowers in Vancouver already!

Anyway, that's my rant for this morning. What brought that on is just the fact that I bought this new Jawbone UP and I've been trying to be active and eat better, but it's really not going all that well. I probably shouldn't blame the weather, but I just find it so hard to motivate myself to do something in the cold. I should really just accept that I'm lazy and deal with that problem.

The one sorta-benefit of being lazy is that I've finally been catching up on some of my nerdy pastimes. I've gotten myself all caught up on Game of Thrones for the new season. Can't wait for that! I've also made a tiny bit of progress on reading Mark of Athena. That book is taking me forever to read. And there's no reason for it. It's a good book!

I finished off Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance a couple weeks ago and started playing Harvest Moon: A New Beginning. It's a pretty fun game, but I'm really not far in it yet. I haven't gotten to build anything yet, and that's the part I'm really looking forward to. I spent a large portion of the day yesterday playing Mass Effect 2. It's not my usual kinda game. I'm not very good at aiming, so I usually prefer games that auto-lock on to your enemies. But it's pretty fun anyway. I like story driven games, and this seems to have an interesting story so far.

I've been keeping up on my comics, but I can't remember what came out recently. I forgot to take my usual "this week's comics" photo for Instagram. I know I enjoyed them. There was All-New X-Men, Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man, Cable and X-Force, and New Avengers. I can't remember what else. Hmmm. I'm a failure of a comic book fan.

Whenever I go to Great White, which is where I buy my comics, I always go look at the Lego. I desperately want to get a few of the sets they've got. All of the Hobbit Lego sets they've got. And the Marvel and DC Superheroes sets. At the Lego store in Vancouver they have even more awesome sets. If I was rich, I'd have a whole big room dedicated entirely to Lego. It would be epic and amazing. But sadly, all I've got are my few little mini-sets.

Anyway! That's my rambling for this week. I will try to come up with something more focused and cohesive for next week. Happy Saturday!

A Very un-Craig-like Feat

So, yesterday was a pretty amazing day for me. Why, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. I finished a video game. But wait! That's not all. I finished... wait for it... TWO video games! Wow, right?!

I rarely finish a video game. It's pretty rare. Most games I get to a certain point and just... stop. Quite often it's at that point right before you head into the final level/boss/whatever and it's your last chance to do all of the sidequests and collect all of the collectibles (you know me and collectibles).

Yesterday I managed to get through the last chapter of Jurassic Park: The Game. There is replayability in this one 'cause there are still a bunch of achievements to unlock, but this game frustrated me so much that I probably won't make any attempts at that anytime soon. Seriously, I am so terrible at reflexive button presses, and that's the whole base of the gameplay, so I relied more on repeatedly dying and memorizing the button prompts. My roommate probably got a little tired of my swearing constantly while I played this game, so it's being retired.

The other game I finally beat was Paper Mario: Sticker Star for the Nintendo 3DS. I started this game a while ago and, as usual, quit playing it right at the final boss fight. Although not for the usual reasons. I had actually managed to collect all of the stickers and find all the HP hearts and hidden Luigis and all that stuff. I just got wiped out in the final boss fight and got all discouraged. I knew I needed to prepare better, but I didn't wanna go to all of the trouble finding better stickers and whatnot, so I just quit for a while. I picked it up a while ago and did all the prep work, but didn't wanna try the battle again. But last night I was already on a roll with JP, so I gave it a shot, and sure enough, I managed to beat Bowser!

I loved Paper Mario: Sticker Star. I was so afraid that I'd hate it with the big changes they made to the gameplay mechanics, but it's my favourite game for the 3DS so far. It's cute and fun, lots to do and collect, and challenging to figure out the right strategy for each battle. It's overall a very charming game that I'd recommend to any 3DS owner.

So now that I've beaten those two, it's time to refocus my video gaming efforts! I'm thinking I'll push to finish off Lego Batman ('cause I STILL haven't finished that one), and I'll try to get into Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance. I tried playing KH:3D when it came out, but for some reason I had a lot of trouble really getting into it. It's odd 'cause it's one of my favourite video game franchises.

Anyway! That's all I've got for this week. Time for work! Oh! AND Comic-Con badges go on sale today! Wish me luck in getting mine! (And good luck to you if you're trying today too!)

Do-you-think-he-saurus Rex

So, I'm not sure what's going on, but I seem to have a bit of a dinosaur obsession right now. Specifically with Jurassic Park. I've always really liked dinosaurs. Not enough to study them or know the difference between a brontosaurus and a brachiosaurus. But enough that I love the Jurassic Park movies, and I was devastated by the cancellation of Terra Nova.

For years now I've had the habit of occasionally doing a google search for Jurassic Park 4. And for years there have been little bits of news here and there that its coming, but never anything concrete. Just that there's a producer attached, and a writer is working on it, and then a new writer has taken over, and various bits of useless information.

But the wait is over! Sorta. There is finally a release date, and things are happening! June 13, 2014 is the date to remember. It's a ways off yet, and there's no director yet, but it's gonna happen! I'm seriously excited for this! I want to know what direction they'll take with it, which characters they'll bring back (if any), what dinosaurs will show up, where it'll take place, all that stuff!

I've also gotten somewhat obsessed with the Jurassic Park Builder app on the iPhone/iPad. It's one of those freemium games, where the app is free, and you don't HAVE to pay any money to use it, but to speed up building times and all that, you need to use you cash, which you can earn in game or buy for real money. Anyway! I've gotten obsessed with it. I keep expanding my park, and getting new dinosaurs, evolving them, levelling them up, and completing quests set forth by the characters from the movies. It's a very simple game, but it's a little bit addictive. I now split my time pretty evenly between that and DragonVale, my other favourite iOS app.

My other new obsession is Jurassic Park: The Game for Xbox 360. My friend Sylvie bought it for me the other day as my birthday present, and I've already played through most of it, but you know me! I'll have to play through again to try to unlock all of the achievements. It's a relatively simple game. You mostly just follow along the story, but it gives you options for dialogue and let's you search for what you have to do. And when action sequences come up you've got to hit various times commands to make it through the scene. Quite often these are dinosaur encounters, and I've already lost count on how many times I've missed commands and ended up dead. I'm starting to feel guilty at how many times I've had to listen to the characters cry over each other's deaths.

The game is pretty fun, and it gives a lot more backstory on the island, plus it follows up on the lost barbasol can with the dinosaur embryos hidden in it. None of the movie characters really appear, but there are plenty of references to the movie, and early on you come across a lot of familiar locations where the movie characters have clearly JUST vacated the scene.

So that's it, the past, present, and future of Jurassic Park (not necessarily in that order). I'm thinking after work today is going to involve some more escaping from dinosaurs. Oh! Last I played I had just gotten to a part with a giant underwater dinosaur! Gotta see what happens with that! Until then... work...

Lego Everywhere!

So, I'm sitting in my room at home attempting to come up with a blog idea. I am not in my usual blogging environment, so we'll see if I can still come up with something if I'm not sitting in Starbucks.

Have you ever played a Lego video game? Like, Lego Batman, Lego Star Wars, Lego Harry Potter? They are some of my favourite games. It's ridiculous, 'cause they have been made to appeal to children, but the games are just so fun! And addictive!

I think I've mentioned before that I have a thing about collecting things, and these games definitely play to that part of me. I've been playing Lego Batman for a long time now. I've beaten the main story to the game already, but every level has a bunch of things to collect, and I have to get all of them. There are pieces of special mini-models I every level, plus a person needs to be rescued from bad guys, and there's a special red brick that can be found, bought, and when activated give you special abilities in the game. There are also a ton of characters to be unlocked as you go that you can then use in levels afterwards.

This is the basic premise in all of the Lego games. Plus, the fact that its on the Xbox means there are achievements to be unlocked, which is another huge pile of things to unlock/collect. So far I've only managed to beat two games to 100% completion. Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4, and Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7. Both I have gotten all of the stuff in game, as well as all of the achievements. I'm nearly there with Lego Batman. But then I've got Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, Lego Indiana Jones, Lego Star Wars, and Lego Pirates of the Caribbean to beat, plus Lego Lord of the Rings just came out, and Lego Marvel Super Heroes comes out this fall, so I've got my work cut out for me.

And that's just the Lego series of games! I've also got all of the Assassin's Creed games, Dragon Age II, Bioshock 2, Fable II and III, Skyrim, and so many other games to get through, PLUS all of the games I've got for other systems. I could probably take a year off from work and do nothing but play video games, and STILL not get through them all. Oh well. There are worse addictions.

Winter Is Coming

The last few days here in the north have been pretty depressing. The sun has left us, clouds have swooped in, and I have been forced to layer. LAYER. It's August, and I am wearing two shirts and a hoodie. To say the least, I am displeased.

I'm hoping we still have a bit of good weather on the way, but we have had a pretty good summer so I can't complain too much. I was just hoping I'd have a chance to try to even out my tan. I've definitely got three different skin tones going on.

The one benefit to the cooler weather is that I'm more inclined to enjoy my nerdy hobbies. When it's sunny and beautiful out, I just can't justify sitting inside watching TV or playing video games. But if it's colder out, it's like a free pass to get my nerd on.

I have so much geeky stuff to catch up on too. I have I don't know how many video games to get through, plus I recently added two new ones to the list, Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance and New Super Mario Bros. 2, both for the Nintendo 3DS. I've got a nice big list of books to read, and I just ordered two more online. And I have so many shows on DVD and iTunes to catch up on.

I took the ugly-weather-opportunity over the last couple days to watch a few episodes of Eureka (I'm on the second of five seasons, I've got my work cut out for me), and my fantastic roomie and I started a marathon of Glee season 3 yesterday. I picked it up on bluray the other day, and we managed to get through the first 7 episodes last night.

I'm hoping that this fall/winter I can catch up on a few other shows I've been meaning to watch. Game of Thrones. Breaking Bad. Torchwood. The Walking Dead. Just to name a few. However, there are definitely a few non-nerdy things I want to do this winter as well. I need to pick up my training for Tough Mudder next year, so I need to get to the gym more ofte this fall/winter. And I want to learn to snowboard this winter! I've been wanting to for years, and never gotten around to it. This is my year!

So even if the sun is leaving, it isn't the end of the world! There's plenty to look forward to! ...Are you convinced? I don't think I've convinced myself either. But good effort? What are you looking forward to this fall/winter? Any benefits to summer coming to a close? Leave me a comment below!

Generic Title

I have decided that I must post something today, but I really can't think of an interesting topic, so I'm just gonna wing it here.

Over the last couple of weeks there have been some pretty exciting things happening, what with E3 and WWDC going on down in California (all of the coolest things happen in California).

I'll start with E3. What is E3, you ask? Well, I'll tell you! It's the Electronics Entertainment Expo! Blank stare? Basically, it's a huge event where all of the electronics companies show off what they are doing. The key here being the big video game companies giving everyone a sneak peek at what coming down the line.

Honestly, this year was relatively boring. I didn't see a lot of stuff that I was particularly interested in. Not that there wasn't cool stuff, there was, but not really my style. It was mostly just Nintendo that did it for me.

There was finally more info about the Wii U this year, which looks fantastic. I can't really describe it here. It just looks pretty. Pikmin 3 is coming out on it, as well as a New Super Mario Bros. U game. Aaaand I can't remember any other games coming out for it yet. Oops. Oh! Nintendoland or something. That doesn't sound right... It's kind of a Mario Party-esque game but using various Nintendo properties for the minigames, like Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, and Animal Crossing. It looks pretty fun, showing off all of the new capabilities of the Wii U.

Nintendo also finally revealed some more info about a few 3DS games I've been waiting for. Paper Mario: Sticker Star is one I've been waiting for forever. I love the other Paper Mario games in the series, and this one looks pretty awesome. It doesn't look as good as the first two, but we'll see if they prove me wrong. Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon also got a little bit of new info out. I really just wanna play it now. It looks fun. Luigi's running around basically being a ghostbuster? Who wouldn't love that?! The also announced New Super Mario Bros. 2, which looks decent. I'll probably buy it and never play it, 'cause I do that.

Otherwise, there wasn't a lot at E3 that I really wanna play. I was a little disappointed. There were games that look really cool, like Beyond, which has Ellen Page starring as the main character. The new Tomb Raider game also looks cool, but I think I'd suck at it. I think there was a new Halo game mentioned, but I am probably the only gamer ever to hate Halo.

The one game I was really excited about that wasn't Nintendo was Assassin's Creed 3. It looks so fantastic. I can't wait for it to come out, even though I have 4 Assassin's Creed games to play before I can play that one. Bad gamer.

Aaanyway, I talked a lot more than I thought I was gonna about E3, so I'll cut out WWDC for now. I'll be an Apple nerd next week. Sorry if this was boring. I should start linking to game trailers or something to make this more exciting... If you have any comments, let me know below!

I Eat My Words

In this latest entry of The Nintendo Hero, I eat my words. On January 21st, I posted another entry on the 3DS in which I said that I probably wouldn't bother getting the 3DS at launch day... I pre-ordered it a few weeks ago. And technically I didn't get it on launch day, but I got it the following day. Let me tell you. It is AWESOME! I'm a big fan.

So yeah, I pre-ordered from Future Shop, 'cause they had a better price for the game I picked up with it, and the 3DS also had a pre-order bonus in the form of a starter kit which includes all kinds of useful things, like a car charger, carrying case, screen protectors, and I dunno what else 'cause it's gonna be a little bit delayed in getting to me. But that doesn't really matter.

With the system, I decided to pre-order Nintendogs + Cats: Golden Retriever and New Friends (there's a mouthful). It was really the only launch game that seemed even relatively interesting to me. And I'm actually pretty happy I did pick it up. I've got my little Shiba Inu puppy named Bean, and I'm teaching her tricks and stuff. If I can't have a real dog, this is the next best thing!

But again, I'm getting side-tracked, I really just want to talk about the system itself. The Nintendo 3DS is a pretty nifty piece of technology. The obvious improvement over the original DS and DSi is the 3D top screen. I'm really not a fan of the 3D craze going on right now, but for this system, I think it really works. The 3D effect works without glasses, so that's one big hurdle gone for me. I hate wearing the stupid glasses. And the effect can be turned off and you can enjoy the games in 2D.

The 3D cameras on the outside, coupled with the system's motion sensing technology (accelerometer and gyroscope) make for some pretty fun times as well. The AR cards are one feature of this, you can play a whole game based on one little card sitting on the table. The other more interesting one (in my opinion) is the Face Raiders game preloaded on the 3DS. You take a picture of your (or someone else's) face, and then play a game where little flying robots with the faces you've used fly around and attack you. I was dancing around my living room turning this way and that avoiding and attacking the weird little face-bots. Clearly more of Nintendo's attempts at more active gaming.

Now, the feature that I find most interesting is StreetPass. When you leave the 3DS in sleep mode (closing the lid without actually turning it off) it will still search for other 3DS systems to communicate with. If another 3DS in sleep mode comes in contact, they will swap StreetPass info (depending on whether or not you have it enabled, and what you choose to share). Different games use the feature in different ways, but the 3DS StreetPass Mii Plaza has it's own exciting uses of the feature. Every time you run into someone, you'll swap Miis, and with the Mii, you will also get a piece of a puzzle that presumably creates something fun. And there's another game within the Mii Plaza called Find Mii, which is some sort of RPG game that requires you to run into other Miis to help you along your quest.

So far, I haven't actually run into anyone else with the StreetPass feature 'cause I've only had the system for 3 days and have yet to take it out with me anywhere, and somehow I feel like it might be a little bit difficult to find other 3DS users in my little northern city. But I suppose I'm gonna have to start carrying it around with me so that I can check out the StreetPass features. Aaaaaand that's it for this post. I'll probably think of something else fun to write about later, so look out for a follow-up post down the line!

The Nintendo Hero Returns, or Pokémon Master

So! The new Pokémon games came out a week ago, and I've decided that that is exciting enough to bring back The Nintendo Hero! The new games: Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version. I've only played a small portion of the games so far, but I am very impressed!

The biggest improvement is the graphics. The games keep their 2D sprites for the characters, but they've made the game world a much more 3D environment. They had a pseudo 3D effect in the previous generation, but it's much better done this time around.

The other great graphics improvement is the battle screen. Previous games have included small amounts of movement in battles, but this time around the pokemon are in constant motion in battles. The pretty much just appear to hop around, but when they use sound attacks, their mouths open, and when put to sleep their eyes close. It zooms in and out on the attacking pokémon and has a much more interactive feel.

I've got a lot further to go in the game because I spent nearly a week trading between the two games until I got all three starters in both games. I'm not sure how I feel about the starters in this game. I guess I like Snivy, and I do like Oshawott, but Tepig is pretty lame. But in comparison to the previous generation, I do like these starters better.

The rest of the pokémon introduced in this generation are a mixed bag. There are definitely some nice ones that I do like quite a bit, but it seems like there are quite a few really lame designs. The ice cream looking one, and the garbage bag, and the gear one. They seem very unoriginal, but I guess I don't really have to have them on my team.

I'm curious how difficult it will be to fill the Pokédex this time around. That has always been my main focus of the Pokémon series, the collection aspect. There are all those people that spend endless hours making their perfect competitive battle teams, but I'm really just not interested in that at all. I just want to get every single pokémon possible. On a related note, the only game I've ever completely filled the Pokédex is Pokémon Blue. The next closest is Pokémon Diamond where I'm only missing Deoxys.

So far, I'm really enjoying the game. The graphics are better, there are 156 new pokémon to catch, and the story so far is pretty engaging. I've only just gotten to the second gym, but I'll give updates as I make it further into the game!
Pictures borrowed from Nintendo and Bulbapedia.

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...