Existentialist Jones

That's because it takes Sherlock Holmes to track any down these days. Of the 3 Game outlets I've been in the last few days, only one had a Gamecube section, and they were still mostly preowned. GameStop just don't seem to do Gamecube at all, and there's nothing in HMV anymore either. Maybe this is a bit of a chicken/egg situation, but consider this - All above mentioned shops do, however, have entire shelves devoted to UMD Video.

Tut tut. It did pick up something fierce. A lot of people did say it got too ridiculous this season. I say to them - what show were you watching before? Other than that, I feel compelled to trot out the standard answer that all the best TV shows are old and we are living in an era starved of creativity. Until Fraiser - The Next Generation.

2nd go around of Beyond Good and Evil to get that bastarding MDisk I couldn't find last time (not the marble game, something...else ) - plus memories, and of course that deep-seated rage and frustration that sets in on getting to the end and realising you may never know what happens - always a good mix for an upcoming weekend. Maybe some Spiderman 2, just to tool around for my own amusement. If I'd got it for full price I'd be a sulky, annoyed camper who didn't want to do anything. For €10 I'd frame it and give it its own shelf.

The saddest thing is even noticing the voice-acting hitting the skids. What happened to comic-timing? Aren't you paid enough to care?

A little pointless? Still, it's nice to know it exists. I was going to say how it would be so much nicer if they came up with a proper sequel, but on prior form Rising Star really shouldn't be encouraged to use their imaginations, methinks.

In hilariously unrelated news, see the Gamespot comments where the debate about whether or not Master Chief is black rages mercilessly. There's no reason to do any movie directly following the plot of a game, and surely doesn't that go double for adventure games? New plot! Same characters! Let the battle cry ring!

Most embarassing moment - right there. My confusion should have set that sarcasm-o-meter a-runnin' and a-jumpin'.

Dammit, and I used to swear by that - and then I spent 20 minutes trying to get my head round this sentence. G'what? Think of it as brain training, I guess.

NES Metroid Ridley would be about the right size, no? I'll miss the G&W level, but not the character, and hoh yuss, a proper move set for Luigi. A strike for all those who be tall and thin. Still no Toad? I mean, he's no-one's favourite but still, over 20 years of service and he's still just Peach's Mush-Man shield...

Truly, we live in an age of heroes. Heroes with one-liners that show up Duke Nukem for the bleach blonde girly-boy he so truly is.

I wish I had too much free time on my hands.

Yep, you're right. Me running my big mouth again... "Earthbound Zero" is something very close to impossible, and even Earthbound starts pretty hairily until you've cleared the first couple of towns. It's the writing that makes it though, almost every line is genius. I've never been a Final Fantasy fan but Earthbound certainly has a beguiling charm. Quite why this hasn't been implemented in all RPG's is actually beyond me. And if you get the jump on them you get a free surprise attack. It's the little touches...

So, €800-€850, in real money, more or less. Take away my rent, that's about what I expect to make in a month working full-time. I think Sony have been giving themselves too many pay-raises to see straight anymore.

and then... Don't listen to him! There is little to no adhesion in Earthbound.

Pff, nothing to it. I got to round 43 before I got bored of the constant refugee raids on my livestock. And for someone with no farming experience (and I include Harvest Moon in that), I think that's pretty good.

Whoa Whoa Whoa - It's the 1st World mini-fortess whistle. Fly up above the first door off the screen, run all the way right and press up. Yes, just as improbable. I'm amazed anyone ever discovered Crouching Box Hidden Whistle. Let the records show I also question the "Holding a Turtle" stipulation too. And hey, Evan Katz is in onboard, and he produces 24. And he produced... JAG. And... "Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again?" What the...? Place your bets now - what kind of game is it, and what kind of evil beings are coming to life? Rogue copies of America's Most Wanted and a Bin Laden clone army? An evil clone of Tony Hawk? Sam and Max? Or just generic aliens from generic space games that nobody makes anymore?

Unfortunately not, it's still sitting in a sports bag in my room. Has playing bad games "ironically" come into fashion yet? I think I'll head over to eBay and give it a shot. I've got a bundled-in copy of Die Hard: Vendetta too. Come and get it! Stay on target. There's still a lot of Mario bad guys yet to make the cut, and Nintendo bad guys in general. How about Ridley? (original smaller-from-necessity Ridley, obviously.) I'd wouldn't mind an airship fortress arena this time around either. Hopefully we'll get a Snake "mirror" as well, the way Captain Falcon and Ganondorf are suspiciously similar in Melee, or Fox maps almost directly onto Falco. I'm not competely au fait with all the various Snake spin offs though...

Earthworm Jim... If anyone was wondering, I was the guy who bought Clay Fighter 63 and a third. List-wise - Guy from Metal Slug, Fred Savage, Harman from Killer7 and Kiefer Sutherland. Now that Snake's in, the sky's the limit!

And there I was expecting Sonic like an idiot. (Like most idiots.) Afraid that that Gamecube pad announcement might be a warning shot that the Wii controller won't exactly be spot-on with this - I can't see how they'd do it. Then again, that's what we pay them for, right? Block activates the box...Please let block activate the box...

I'll second that. I can almost see it under my TV already. I was an inveterate Nintendo fanboy for years, and just when I finally feel I've exorcised all my prejudices, when I finally felt ready to consider a PS3, this happens. It just seems like...so much fun. Yeah. Me too. It seems so naive now...

Ah. It's always little the strokes of genius that pass you by...

Rumour told of a regular pad to go along with the Wiimote, guess here's the proof. Certainly solves the problem of how you're supposed to play SNES and N64 games on it though, not to mention Mega Drive and Turbografx. Just realised this will probably entail shelling out for two pads. Dammit. I don't know if this has been covered, but any chance the two controllers making up the Wii symbol in the flash movie is evidence of the rumour of two controllers coming with the machine? Just a suggestion.

Hmm. No tiered pricing system, but tiered games? A launch Zelda game with damn-near-as-full Wiimote functionality seems worth x hundred euro more, especially compared with the alternative - sitting there, and it's good, but there's something missing, doing something as mundane as pushing a button to swing a sword. I can appreciate that they want to stay loyal to any GC owners who were promised new Zelda but...still...

Unless Sony's just using this a jumping board to a more usable motion sensor design. It's a more casual approach to revolutionising control, and it'll catch a lot of people. Sure we can lean round corners already, but it's about making the lttle things more accessible. Still, nowhere near Wii functionality - but that's what you get with a last minute bolt-on addition, right? And isn't DualShock somewhat a contradiction in terms now?