Geek vs Life

Ok folks, sorry about the length of this one. It’s a really long list. A couple of things of note: Super Smash Brothers has been delayed until January 24th (and, yes, Sonic the Hedgehog is in it. Fanboys delight), Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 out there in November (yes, it’s as funny as it looks), Alvin and the Chipmunks (wait…what the….?), Mario Kart on the Wii is for Spring ‘08 (thankfully, that isn’t the title), November 20th sees Final Fantasy XII come out for the DS (and I’m going to lose Jon for a few days), Dimentium: The Ward (really creepy, especially for a DS game), and…is that Assassin’s Creed down there on the DS in February? Who would have thought?

So, with this in mind, here’s the bloody long list, that doesn’t even contain VC releases:

Wii
Oct. 1: MLB® Power Pros from 2K Sports
Oct. 1: Dragon Blade: Wrath of Fire™ from D3Publisher of America®
Oct. 2: Crash® of the Titans from Sierra Entertainment, Inc.
Oct. 5: Balls of Fury™ from DSI Games
Oct. 8: Donkey Kong®: Barrel Blast from Nintendo
Oct. 9: FIFA 08 from Electronic Arts
Oct. 9: Bleach: Shattered Blade™ from SEGA
Oct. 9: LOONEY TUNES: ACME ARSENAL™ from WB Games
Oct. 10: Arctic Tale from DSI Games
Oct. 15: Sea Monsters from DSI Games
Oct. 16: Thrillville®: Off the Rails™ from LucasArts
Oct. 22: EA PLAYGROUND from Electronic Arts
Oct. 23: Backyard Football from Atari, Inc.
Oct. 23: The Sims 2™ Castaway from Electronic Arts
Oct. 23: Rockstar Games Presents™ Table Tennis from Rockstar Games
Oct. 23: The Legend of Spyro™: The Eternal Night from Sierra Entertainment, Inc.
Oct. 23: NARUTO™: Clash of Ninja™ Revolution from TOMY Corporation
Oct. 25: M&M’S® Kart Racing from DSI Games
Oct. 28: Guitar Hero III™: Legends of Rock from Activision
Oct. 29: Battalion Wars™ 2 from Nintendo
Oct. 30: Ben 10™: Protector of Earth from D3Publisher of America®
Oct. 30: Showtime® Championship Boxing™ from DSI Games
Oct. 30: NEED FOR SPEED PROSTREET from Electronic Arts
Oct. 30: THE SIMPSONS from Electronic Arts
Oct. 31: Manhunt 2™ from Rockstar Games
October: Spider-Man™: Friend or Foe from Activision
October: Bee Movie™ Game from Activision
October: Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground from Activision
October: Ultimate Duck Hunting™ from Detn8 Games Ltd.
October: Mercury Meltdown Revolution from Ignition Entertainment
October: Namco Museum™ Remix from NAMCO BANDAI Games America
October: Code Lyoko: Quest for Infinity from The Game Factory
October: Avatar: The Last Airbender™ – The Burning Earth from THQ
October: Bratz: The Movie™ from THQ
October: Cars: Mater-National from THQ
October: Nicktoons™: Attack of the Toybots from THQ
October: SpongeBob’s Atlantis SquarePantis™ from THQ
Nov. 5: Fire Emblem®: Radiant Dawn from Nintendo
Nov. 6: DanceDanceRevolution Hottest Party from Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
Nov. 6: LEGO® Star Wars™: The Complete Saga from LucasArts
Nov. 6: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games™ from SEGA
Nov. 12: Super Mario Galaxy™ from Nintendo
Nov. 13: Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3 from Atari, Inc.
Nov. 13: Godzilla Unleashed from Atari, Inc.
Nov. 13: Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary from Eidos, Inc.
Nov. 13: BLOCKS from Electronic Arts
Nov. 13: MEDAL OF HONOR HEROES™ 2 from Electronic Arts
Nov. 13: LUXOR: Pharaoh’s Challenge from MumboJumbo
Nov. 13: Geometry Wars™: Galaxies from Sierra Entertainment, Inc.
Nov. 19: Link’s Crossbow Training™ (packaged with Wii Zapper™) from Nintendo
Nov. 19: SMARTY PANTS™ from Electronic Arts
Nov. 20: Jenga World Tour from Atari, Inc.
Nov. 20: Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords™ from D3Publisher of America®
November: Trauma Center™: New Blood from Atlus USA
November: Star Trek: Conquest from Bethesda Softworks
November: Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey from Disney Interactive Studios
November: Hannah Montana: Spotlight World Tour from Disney Interactive Studios
November: High School Musical: Sing It from Disney Interactive Studios
November: Garfield Gets Real from DSI Games
November: Furu Furu Park from Majesco Entertainment
November: AMF Bowling: Pinbusters! from Mud Duck Games
November: Ghost Squad™ from SEGA
November: WWE® SmackDown® vs. Raw® 2008 from THQ
November: Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 from Ubisoft
November: CSI: Hard Evidence from Ubisoft
November: My Word Coach from Ubisoft
November: Petz: Catz 2 (name not final) from Ubisoft
November: Petz: Dogz 2 (name not final) from Ubisoft
November: Petz: Horsez 2 (name not final) from Ubisoft
November: Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 from Ubisoft
Dec. 4 : Alvin and the Chipmunks from Brash Entertainment
Dec. 4 : The Golden Compass™ from SEGA
December: MX vs. ATV™ Untamed™ from THQ
December: Super Swing Golf™ Season 2 from Tecmo, Inc.
December: Rygar®: The Battle of Argus from Tecmo, Inc.
December: Cranium: Kabookii from Ubisoft
December: Nitrobike from Ubisoft
Holiday 2007: NiGHTS™: Journey of Dreams from SEGA
Winter ‘07: SoulCalibur Legends™ from NAMCO BANDAI Games America
Jan. 21: Endless Ocean™ from Nintendo
Feb. 10 : Super Smash Bros.® Brawl from Nintendo
Feb. 15: Yamaha Supercross from DSI Games
Feb. 19: Sonic™ Riders: Zero Gravity from SEGA
February: No More Heroes from Ubisoft
February: Wild Petz Tigerz from Ubisoft
March: Obscure: The Aftermath from Ignition Entertainment
Q1: LUXOR 3 from MumboJumbo
Q1: One Piece™: Unlimited Adventure™ from NAMCO BANDAI Games America
Spring ‘08: Mario Kart® Wii (name not final) from Nintendo

Nintendo DS
Oct. l: The Legend of Zelda®: Phantom Hourglass from Nintendo
Oct. 2: Chibi-Robo™: Park Patrol from Nintendo
Oct. 2: Backyard Hockey 2008 from Atari, Inc.
Oct. 2: Holly Hobbie™ & Friends from Majesco Entertainment
Oct. 2: Crash® of the Titans from Sierra Entertainment, Inc.
Oct. 2: The Legend of Spyro™: The Eternal Night from Sierra Entertainment, Inc.
Oct. 9: FIFA 08 from Electronic Arts
Oct. 9: Flipper Critters from Ignition Entertainment
Oct. 9: Bleach: the Blade of Fate™ from SEGA
Oct. 9: LOONEY TUNES: DUCK AMUCK™ from WB Games
Oct. 15: Flash Focus™: Vision Training in Minutes a Day from Nintendo
Oct. 15: The Aly & AJ Adventure from DSI Games
Oct. 16: Cheetah Girls: Pop Star Sensations from Disney Interactive Studios
Oct. 16: Thrillville®: Off the Rails™ from LucasArts
Oct. 16: Fish Tycoon® from Majesco Entertainment
Oct. 16: Super Collapse! 3 from MumboJumbo
Oct. 17: Prism™ from Secret Stash Games™
Oct. 19: Betty Boop’s™ “Double Shift” from DSI Games
Oct. 22: EA PLAYGROUND from Electronic Arts
Oct. 23: THE SIMS 2 CASTAWAY from Electronic Arts
Oct. 23: Rhythm ‘n Notes: Improve Your Music Skill from AGETEC
Oct. 23: Backyard Football 2008 from Atari, Inc.
Oct. 23: Napoleon Dynamite from Crave Entertainment
Oct. 23: Ed, Edd n Eddy™: Scam of the Century from D3Publisher of America®
Oct. 23: Hannah Montana: Music Jam from Disney Interactive Studios
Oct. 23: Disney Princess: Magical Jewels from Disney Interactive Studios
Oct. 23: Power Rangers: Super Legends from Disney Interactive Studios
Oct. 23: Zoo Hospital™ from Majesco Entertainment
Oct. 23: FRONT MISSION® from Square Enix, Inc.
Oct. 23: NARUTO™: Path of the Ninja™ from TOMY Corporation
Oct. 25: Sea Monsters from DSI Games
Oct. 25: Arctic Tale from DSI Games
Oct. 30: Ben 10™: Protector of Earth from D3Publisher of America®
Oct. 30: Suite Life: Circle of Spies from Disney Interactive Studios
Oct. 30: Dr. Seuss: How the Grinch™ Stole Christmas from DSI Games
Oct. 30: NEED FOR SPEED PROSTREET from Electronic Arts
Oct. 30: THE SIMPSONS from Electronic Arts
Oct. 30: Puzzle de Harvest Moon from Natsume Inc.
Oct. 31: Dementium: The Ward from Gamecock Media Group
Oct. 31: Solitaire Overload™ from Telegames, Inc.
October: Spider-Man™: Friend or Foe from Activision
October: Bee Movie™ Game from Activision
October: Shrek®: Ogres and Dronkeys™ from Activision
October: Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground from Activision
October: Touch Detective 2½™ from Atlus USA
October: Animal Genius™ from Scholastic
October: Build-A-Bear Workshop from The Game Factory
October: Avatar: The Last Airbender™ – The Burning Earth from THQ
October: Cars: Mater-National from THQ
October: El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera™ from THQ
October: Nicktoons™: Attack of the Toybots from THQ
October: Ratatouille® Food Frenzy from THQ
October: SpongeBob’s Atlantis SquarePantis™ from THQ
October: Chessmaster: The Art of Learning from Ubisoft
October: Imagine: Babyz from Ubisoft
October: Imagine: Fashion Designer from Ubisoft
October: Imagine: Master Chef from Ubisoft
October: Imagine: Animal Doctor from Ubisoft
October: Wild Petz Dolphinz from Ubisoft
Nov. 6: Dora the Explorer™: Dora Saves the Mermaids from 2K Play
Nov. 6: Go Diego Go™: Safari Adventure from 2K Play
Nov. 6: Baby Pals from Crave Entertainment
Nov. 6: Horse Life™ from D3Publisher of America®
Nov. 6: LEGO® Star Wars™: The Complete Saga from LucasArts
Nov. 6: Chicken Hunter from MumboJumbo
Nov. 6: DRAGON QUEST MONSTERS™: Joker from Square Enix, Inc.
Nov. 10: Showtime® Championship Boxing™ from DSI Games
Nov. 13: Enchanted from Disney Interactive Studios
Nov. 13: BOOGIE from Electronic Arts
Nov. 13: ORCS & ELVES from Electronic Arts
Nov. 13: Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends from Majesco Entertainment
Nov. 13: Geometry Wars™: Galaxies from Sierra Entertainment, Inc.
Nov. 19: Mario Party® DS from Nintendo
Nov. 20: Godzilla Unleashed Double Smash from Atari, Inc.
Nov. 20: Jenga World Tour from Atari, Inc.
Nov. 20: LUXOR: Pharaoh’s Challenge from MumboJumbo
Nov. 20: FINAL FANTASY® XII: REVENANT WINGS™ from Square Enix, Inc.
Nov. 26: Master of Illusion™ from Nintendo
November: Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare™ from Activision
November: Ontamarama™ from Atlus USA
November: Draglade™ from Atlus USA
November: Elf Bowling™ Collector’s Edition from Detn8 Games Ltd.
November: Garfield Gets Real from DSI Games
November: Clue™/Mouse Trap™/Perfection™/Aggravation™ from DSI Games
November: Contra 4 from Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
November: Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2008 from Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
November: Strawberry Shortcake: The Four Seasons Cake from The Game Factory
November: Bratz Super Babyz™ from THQ
November: Bratz: 4 Real™ from THQ
November: Warhammer® 40,000™: Squad Command™ from THQ
November: WWE® SmackDown® vs. Raw® 2008 from THQ
November: Ninja Gaiden® Dragon Sword from Tecmo, Inc.
November: My French Coach from Ubisoft
November: My Spanish Coach from Ubisoft
November: My Word Coach from Ubisoft
November: Petz: Catz 2 (working title) from Ubisoft
November: Petz: Dogz 2 (working title) from Ubisoft
November: Petz: Hamsterz Life 2 from Ubisoft
November: Petz: Horsez 2 from Ubisoft
November: Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 from Ubisoft
Dec. 4 : Alvin and the Chipmunks from Brash Entertainment
Dec. 4 : The Golden Compass™ from SEGA
Dec. 10: RIP: Death Volunteers™ from Telegames, Inc.
December: Diary Girl from Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
Jan. 15: Barnyard Blast from DSI Games
Jan. 21: Advance Wars®: Days of Ruin from Nintendo
Jan. 25: M&M’S® Kart Racing from DSI Games
Jan. 31: Command & Destroy from DSI Games
January: Miami Nights from Ubisoft
Feb. 4: Professor Layton and the Curious Village™ from Nintendo
Feb. 12: New Zealand Story Revolution from Ignition Entertainment
Feb. 15: Yamaha Supercross from DSI Games
Feb. 19: Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer from SEGA
Feb. 26: Bubble Bobble Double Shot from Ignition Entertainment
February: Imagine: Figure Skater from Ubisoft
February: Wild Petz Tigerz from Ubisoft
February: Assassin’s Creed from Ubisoft
March 4: Disney Friends from Disney Interactive Studios
March 29: Ultimate Card Games from Telegames, Inc.
March: Insecticide from Gamecock Media Group
March: My Life Coach from Ubisoft
Q1: Eco Creatures: Save the Forest from Majesco Entertainment
Q1: Polar Bowling from MumboJumbo
Q1: Slingo Quest from MumboJumbo
Q1: Tropix from MumboJumbo
Q1: Polar Golf from MumboJumbo
Q1: River King: Mystic Valley from Natsume Inc.
Q1: Harvest Moon DS Cute from Natsume Inc.
Q1: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games™ from SEGA

I was a child of the 1980s and 90s. And, like any child of the 80s and 90s, my video gaming world revolved around two names: Nintendo and Sega. Or, more accurate to the mind of a child, Mario and Sonic.

Ah, those… fond… memories of schoolyard arguments, over who was better than who, and who could beat who. How many now-20-somethings dreamed for the day when they could finally prove, once and for all, for all their friends to see, who was better: Nintendo’s lovable plumber, or Sega’s blue speed demon?

Well, my friends, the wait is finally almost  over. For when Super Smash Bros. Brawl hits Japan in January, and the US… sometime later… You will finally be able to pit these video game icons against each other.

Want more? Like, maybe a video? Head on over to the article on IGN.

It is hard to find funny books anymore. I mean books that make you make you laugh out loud. Maybe you know some authors or books. King Dork comes immediately to mind. It was a book that I would just laugh and laugh. People would stare at me like I was a maniac. (I am, but the humor in the book proves this or disproves this.) Other examples for me would be Douglas Adams, or Chuck Klosterman. The point to this? I Love You, Beth Cooper by Larry Doyle is a funny book. I mean laughing out loud being stared at by strangers.

It is a coming of age novel. I know insert groans here. To be honest, I think the subject has been killed, but I also know that each generation needs it’s own spin on the genre. Their take of this mostly humiliating Western world experience. Why it is almost written by someone so far beyond their high school years, is beyond me.

Larry Doyle was a Simpson writer, during the time, when the show was funny. So good pedigree so far, even with the high school yearnings.

Yes, this book is about yearnings. The main character, a valedictorian named Denis, proclaims his love of Beth Cooper on the eve of high school graduation. The head cheerleader doesn’t even know of Denis’ existence. What follows is a last night of fun and loathing following their last night of high school.

Yes, it is a funny book, but it has pathos. It probably has one of the most three dimensional female characters in this type of fiction. (The titular female of Denis’ affection becomes a complex individual, and worthy of anyone’s love.) Denis, himself, is smart…maybe a genius, but so social awkward it hurts. You will never believe Denis has a chance with Beth, in fact even Beth believe in this tidbit, but Denis knows this much to be true: his love is pure.

The night has many adventures, and humorous situations. It also has a clique of Beth’s friends. (Again the women end up being the most fascinating in the novel. They become much more interesting then their male counterparts.) Denis’ slightly less social awkward best friend, who is sexual ambiguous. And of course Beth’s psychotic boyfriend, Kevin.

As the book progresses we see how it literally affects Denis. There are illustrations before the chapter showing the bumps and bruises the night inflicting on our protagonist. Under each picture, there is a quote from a coming of age movie or book. It is fun to spot the pop culture references. Again this is a fun read, but it won’t change the world. (I don’t think is this generation’s movement book.) It will make you laugh occasional, and smile quite a bit. It recaptures our braver moments in high school, while reminding us of our existential woes of high school. It also has the courage to tell us that for most of us, life will get better after high school, while for others it was the best part of their lives.

Hello geeks. I hope to have some reviews up this week. They cover the books (I love you, Beth Cooper), comics (DMZ and Exterminators), and some board games (Ticket to Ride). Oh yes I hope to put up some music reviews like the new Band of Horses, and Sunset Rubdown. Until then don’t geek out to much.

Last years hot topic issue was net neutrality and how we had to protect it. Battles were fought, petitions were signed but on Thursday September 6th, the following happened:

“The Justice Department this week issued its support for a tiered approach to Internet service, and said that the imposition of net neutrality laws would hinder the continued growth of the Web.”-Chloe Albanesius, PCmag.com (Sept 07)

“The Justice Department today said Internet service providers should be allowed to charge a fee for priority Web traffic.”-Dibya Sarkar, Seattle Times

“The Bush administration believes that government regulators should be “highly skeptical” of net-neutrality regulations and instead rely on competition to protect consumers.”-ZDnet.co.uk

To understand the implications of this, one must first understand what net neutrality is. When people access the internet, each site gets to download at the same speed using the same amount of bandwidth no matter who you are, hence the neutrality. Thus when you open up a page like geek-vs-life.com for example, it should load on your screen at the same speed as aol.com. Of course the speed at which a page opens might make it seem like certain pages load at different rates, but that has nothing to do with bandwidth allowances, it’s all about page content. Your friend’s page on Myspace.com with two dozen images and videos WILL load slower than someone how just has a colored background. It’s all about content.

So here is the problem that is surfacing. A handful of major broadband ISP’s (Internet Service Providers) (ie: Comcast, AT&T Verizon) are lobbying congress to allow them to sell faster speeds to certain pages. So let’s say you try and open a page for a certain major electronics store, let’s call it store A, who does pay for the service, but local electronic store, let’s call it store B, doesn’t. When the consumer will be looking to purchase a new home computer for example, and he tried searching store B, but the page was taking forever to load, so he went to the site of store A and everything is available instantly. It creates a unleveled playing field in the market place.

But the problems do not end there. If the ISP have control at which rates you can gain access to certain site, it can also censor what sites you have access too by giving you no access to it. Let’s say ISP-A is a very Christian organization and deems internet pornography to be indecent. All it has to do is shut the bandwidth allotments and the porn will no longer be accessible. Another example of ISP driven censorship is politics. If ISP-A believes candidate A is better, it can simply block off access to all of candidate B websites.

Everyone has their preferred search engine, whether it’s Yahoo, Webcrawler, MSN, Google or other. Without web neutrality, an ISP can accept money from a search engine to accelerate it and slow down or cut off the bandwidths of other engines.

Revoking net neutrality is akin to censorship on a very grand scale. It allows the power and freedom to choose to lay not in the hands of the consumer, but in the hands of the companies. It also creates an unfair and unbalanced marketplace. For more information, please follow the links below:

Save the Internet .com
Google Help Center: Net Neutrality
Moyers on America

Also watch these great videos from the people at savetheinternet.com.

And: