Geek vs Life

Sorry it’s running late, I just had someone move in with me, we’ve been messing with getting the router set up… So the list’s not even formatted. Or organized by date. It is alphabetized, though…

My recommendation for the week is Story of Saiunkoku volume 1, although it’s probably a bit too girly for most of the regular crowd. Basic story: Poor girl wants to be an official in ancient China/Japan-type country. Too bad girls can’t be officials. But the emperor’s an idiot who doesn’t do anything. So some of the other officials hire the girl to be his “consort” (wife/concubine/whatever you want to call it) and teach him to be a better emperor. Oh, did I mention that he’s good looking, and so are many of the other court officials? Yeah, it’s that kind of show.

Words are not enough to describe what I have been wating for all summer long, so I shall do it in song and interpretive dance. Here goes:

I need a hero
I’m holding out for a hero ’til the end of the night
He’s gotta be strong
And he’s gotta be fast
And he’s gotta be fresh from the fight
I need a hero
I’m holding out for a hero ’til the morning light
He’s gotta be sure
And it’s gotta be soon
And he’s gotta be larger than life

Labor Day is considered by many to be the last real weekend of summer. For some it’s the return to school and others it’s just another Monday, just like every other week. When to game, when to game. Especially with a treasure trove of gaming goodness that is being released this week.

Let’s start off with Blue Dragon for Xbox360, another promising RPG from the folks at Mistwalker and Artoon released by Microsoft Game Studios. The game melds an older style of RPG’ing with cool anime style graphics.

Next up we have Guild Wars: Eye of the North. There’s just something that entices me about being able to play a MMORPG without having to pay an extra fee every damn month. Besides, the game is awesome.

Metroid Prime 3 will make use of the Wii-mote to it’s fullest capabilities. I had a chance to get some hands on time at PAX and folks, I like what I saw, chances are, so will you.

As if the end of AvP didn’t hint like a Clue-By-Four about an upcoming sequal.

IGN has released the Aliens Vs. Predator - Requiem movie trailer.

It appears they held nothing back on this one and rightfully earned their R-rating. I’m hoping, and think I may have seen in the trailer, that the Predalien (which would be hatched from the end of AvP) will be in this one. They could either make it look amazing or totally blow it, but I am definitely looking forward to making an event of going to see this movie.

I love the smell of conventions in the morning. It has the fresh new car smell. The rooms feel so drab when the media are allowed access half an hour before the rest of the crowds, I understand the “why’s” of it. As a media outlet, we have to have a certain amount of uninterrupted access to the stands and booths, so we can actually do our jobs of reporting. After all, we have to write about what the gamers are going to be waiting in line for, whether it’s to try out Rock Band or the newly released Bioshock.

Gamers got to try out the much anticipated Penny Arcade video game.

PAX has come and gone and it was great. More to the point, we witnessed the birth of what will become the biggest Game fan-fest in North America.

Unfortunate server issues and major computer glitches have made it practically impossible for us to post what we would have liked to write, but fear not, problems are being solved.

In the following days the following stories will emerge:

-Religion Vs Gaming, is there really a difference?
-EAC or why Thompson didn’t show
-Wil Wheaton: Geek Blogger God
-The nVidia’s number revolution
-Game reviews
-Tourney reviews
-and much, much more

Keep your eyes on the screen and click refresh a few times. It’s coming.

All this week, IGN has the first episode of Xenosaga the Animation available for viewing, so I decided to see how bad it was. I was pleasantly surprised. *listens to crickets chirp, since everyone else is gone to PAX*

I was quite upset and annoyed with ADV’s decision not to use ANY of the cast of the games (especially Crispin Freeman), but, for the most part, the cast was very well done. Of the main cast, those that are introduced and voiced in the first episode are Shion, KOS-MOS, Allen, Margulis, Jin, Virgil, the “100-series realian”, and Albedo. Shion’s voice was nice, not outstanding, but not bad, either. KOS-MOS, on the other hand, I was shocked wasn’t her voice from Episodes I and III, since she voiced her perfectly. Allen’s voice could’ve been a bit better, but it still works alright. He sounded a bit young. Margulis was decent, but I miss his voice from the games. Jin and Virgil both had voices that fit them, as did the “100-series realian”. Albedo’s voice… It’s no Crispin Freeman, and he’s not quite as creepy/insane as I’d like, but it’s good!

Alright friends, we now unveil to you the new Geek-vs-Life logo! In one corner, we have the be-spectacled Geek with callused fast-twitch controller thumbs, and in the other corner we have the 300 lb Gorilla known as LIFE. Who will win the battle?

Who knows for sure, but it is up to us, the Geek Faithful, to stay in the corner of the lowly and oppressed Geek. In the meantime, we stay as cautious as the Shadow of the Squirrel, awaiting the day when we shall all say in a loud, British accent, “Victory is OURS!”

Amen, Brother Gayle, Amen.

Like a modern day Xmas for geeks, sadly PAX comes but once a year… for three days.

The Seattle based staff of GVL have big plans for the event this year. PAX has become a sort of Mecca for us, a day where we can all get out and be who we are with like minded people: Geeks. We have been talking and waiting for the event all year, planing concocting and preparing. Whether we were mentioning game changes in Omegathon, Omegathon participants announcements, or even going as far back as January 07, when we announced that the Pre-Registration tickets were on sale. It’s been a long year, and we all could do was wait in anticipation.

Brilliant video on how YOU can be an emo kid too. I think it’s sad that I recognize so many of my friends in this. Ok fine, I recognize myself in this.

Well, I’ve had almost a week to play around with the game now, so I think I’ve figured it out well enough to review it.

First off, my experience with the Mana series is fairly limited. While I have seen (either on the shelf or in action) Secret of Mana and Sword of Mana, I have no experience with Final Fantasy Gaiden: Seiken Densetsu (aka Final Fantasy Adventure), Legend of Mana, Dawn of Mana, or Children of Mana. Seiken Densetsu III (not released in the US), however, I have extensive experience with.

I don’t know where you live on humble reader. I know for myself I am in crags and canyons of Southern California. The temperature is the mid nineties. The sun has melted some of my CDs I took with me on my road trip. Or maybe you are in a region of the country where the reign of rain is about to begin. Fall has shown her colors. The point is maybe you want to escape indoors…to take a break from the calamitous weather. The other problem is you seen everything or more to the point everything you want to see. Well you could read a book, but if you wanna veg out I have some suggestions for you. Bear in mind you will need a region free DVD player for most of these suggestions. You can find all these originally on the BBC.

“The Mighty Boosh!”

Joe and I are preparing a stage version of this skit which we will tour across Open Mic nights across Seattle! See you there. (No, not really.)