I was going to make a political post, but let’s face it, that’s boring. And this, Little Big Planet, is far more exciting than anything political.
Little Big Planet is a new game coming out for the PS3 in a couple weeks on October 21st. It’s hard to categorize the game, because it’s in a category all to itself. Just watch the videos. It’s amazing.
I’m supposed to be working on the book, but I’m watching Yellowcard in HD from Letterman from over a year ago instead. The violin is so cool. I want more music in HD.
It’s been almost a week since my last post, which is pretty bad for the blarg. I apologize. Not a ton has happened since the last post. Went to Turlock over the weekend for Grandma’s 89th birthday. It was fun going up there. Got to see three of her brothers that I’ve never really met before. Got some good video of them and the almond orchards. Haven’t gotten around to editing it, but I just need to make time.
I finished my second league in The Show ’07. I went 11-3 this season, same as the last, but once I again I lost in the World Series! As someone else accurately said, I am the Buffalo Bills. The new game comes out in less than two weeks. I’m not sure how, but I promise to myself to make time to play. One game a week!
Now I’m watching the “Brothers Forever” guy from American Idol this season. It’s so hilarious, I love it. Not only is the song catchy and gets stuck in your head, but he says a bunch of funny stuff.
Paula: “Why is Simon’s name on your hat?”
Guy with funny hat: “As long as there is free media, television, radio, people will speak the name of Simon.”
Guy with funny hat: “You are heaven’s chosen, to give chance to any talent…for free of charge.”
I love that this guy is such a supporter of capitalism, it’s great. OK, off to write the book now. Go Dodgers.
Due to my pathetic lack of posts lately, I give you two in the same hour!
What’s up with Wilson Betemit? Most of the year he looks like total garbage, then they bring up LaRoche and he starts hitting. All I know is one of them needs to break out and shine.
Speaking of baseball, I’ve been reading about MLB ’07 The Show on PS3. I’m really in a precarious situation. I love my Wii, but it will never have a classic baseball game on it due to the motion controls. My other console is the original xbox, which only has one new baseball offering this year, and it’s probably the last.
As I consider my inevitable purchase of either an Xbox 360 or PS3, the baseball title offerings are a huge priority. Sega has a monopoly on the MLB license, so MLB 2k7 is the only baseball title made by a 3rd party publisher. SCEA, Sony’s publishing house, is exempt from that exclusivity, so they can make their own MLB game. It’s only available for PS3 though. That means Xbox 360 has one game to choose from, and PS3 two games.
Of course the PS3 costs $600 and the game is another $60. There should be a price drop eventually, but the kid in me still gets excited reading about new games even though I don’t have a lot of time to play them. I still need to beat Zelda, and I have Paper Mario on the Gamecube waiting.
Despite the lack of time available to me for playing videogames, I can still get excited about them. This week is the annual Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3). All the big videogame makers get together and put on a show for the media and let them try out new games and all that stuff. Mike and I snuck in one year.
This year is a big deal because both Sony and Nintendo have new consoles on the horizon. Sony has PS3 and Nintendo has Wii (pronounced "we"). If you’re interested you can visit IGN and check out their E3 coverage.
Now for my 2 cents on everything. PS3 is from $500-600 depending on your model, which is an insane price for a videogame system. If there are any redeeming qualities I would have to look to the Blu-Ray drive inside. I’m really excited to see what people think of Wii once they get their hands on the controller. The Nintendo conference looked really cool, but I wasn’t overwhelmed. Because Wii isn’t a huge graphical jump over Gamecube (and it’s not supposed to be), I think simply watching a game isn’t that impressive. I’m hoping that once you hold the controller in your hand and get used to the brand new controls it will be a truly unique experience. Sony added a "tilt" sensor to their controller at the cost of a rumble device. I think it’s an attempt to take some of the wind out of Nintendo’s sail, but it’s too little, too late. It will work for flying games, monkey ball, and marble madness…but that’s it. They’re trying to tell people that a rumble feature is "so last year," but I think they’re wrong.
Nintendo has an amazing marketing team. The positioning that they’ve come up with for their new system is hands-down the best of the three. They’ve been able to distance themselves from the competition in a sector that was drowing in copycats. They aren’t competing with Microsoft or Sony in terms of graphics or ports anymore. Now they’re competing based on the fun factor. Nintendo is also insisting that this will be the system to bring videogaming to the masses. Your Mom, Grandpa, and red-headed stepchild will all be playing this system, flailing about like a bunch of idiots in front of the TV, and oh will it rock. The marketing guy in me is very impressed with Nintendo.
Since I upgraded my computer (which I’ve yet to post about) I’ve been checking out some new games. Lately I’ve been playing a game called The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. It’s a very open-ended RPG set in a medieval world. The emperor is assassinated in the beginning, and you are thrust into a quest to solve that mystery and save the world.
The cool part is that the whole thing feels like a real living and breathing world. You can go anywhere and talk to anyone. You design your character and decide what skills they will have. So far I’ve played about 7 hours, and most of it has just been wandering around exploring. You can pick up a book off a shelf to read and it will be 24 pages long. Doesn’t seem that long, but there are books everywhere, and this is a stinkin’ videogame! You can attack someone and the guards will come running if they hear.
So combine this game with the Dodgers losing every game, and my posting may suffer somewhat.
