Evacuation Day

This year has gotten off to a pretty good start. The Patriots won the Superbowl. Again. Antoine Walker is back on the Celtics (what was Danny Ainge hoping to accomplish when he traded 'Toine away in the first place?) and they're on a hot streak. Opening day is less than a month away, with the rings being presented in front of who else... The Stankees. And there's no NHL. Awesome!

While I still wonder where last year ranks against the likes of 1998 as the "best gaming year of all time" I can at least conclude that this year is off to a great start. Having sold my Gamecube last year, I haven't played RE4. I'm not even sure if I will at any point in the future since horror games lost my interest several years, but by most accounts it is an excellent game. Tekken 5 is amazing, and probably the last great 3D fighter of this generation unless Virtua Fighter 4 Final Tuned gets a $19.99 port to the "Greatest Hits" lineup. There seems to be the prevailing thought that Namco will release Soul Calibur 3 this year, but I hope for the sake of the series that they cool it a bit and wait. Launching it along side a PS3-based arcade board would be killer. The only real improvement SC2 had over the original was graphics (which was diminished by the massive upgrade the original saw going from System 12 to being a Dreamcast launch title). Releasing another installment this year would really be overkill. If Namco should do anything this year, they should make Tekken Tag Tournament 2 on System 256 for the arcades using Tekken 5's engine, and a pimped out upgrade as a PS3 launch title. Save Soul Calibur 3 and Tekken 6 for a true next generation PS3 based arcade board. I'd also like to a see a port of the original TTT's PS2 engine to PSP, with all the new characters from Tekken 4 and Tekken 5. Call it "Tekken Tag," or "Tekken Tag 1.5" or whatever the hell you want, it would kick ass and be immediately classifiable as the best handheld game ever.

Even with the insane number of FPS games release last year (of which Half-Life 2, UT2004, and Riddick were the highlights) there's still plenty coming out this year. Brothers in Arms, Star Wars Republic Commando, and Project Snowblind have all gotten most good reviews across the board. Being completely worn out on WW2 games (Battlefield 1942 and Wolfenstein Enemy territory were the pinnacle for multiplayer, Call of Duty the pinnacle of single player) Brothers in Arms doesn't interest me too much... or ah... at all. It's nice to see Gearbox finally doing original games, even if the concept, genre, and mold of the game are about as "original" as poorly phrased bumper stickers slapped on to the rear of an angry librul's SAAB hatchback. I'm not into Star Wars (don't be misled by my previous movie comments), but if the squad based gameplay of Republic Commando is good, I will check it out. Project Snowblind interests me because it started life as a Deus Ex spin-off, but Chrystal Dynamics realized they weren't making a true DX game and created a new property altogether. Too bad Spector & co. at Ion Storm couldn't realize that they weren't making a true DX game either. They might actually still be in business.

Gran Turismo 4 looks amazing, and the photo mode is a great idea. I haven't had time to even rent it yet, and probably will not for quite some time. I lament the abscence of some time of true online mode (xlink kai doesn't count) but until I have time to play the game I guess I should stop concerning myself with any features that were cut. Devil May Cry 3 sounds as if it makes up for the abomination that was DMC2, and is the game people wanted to play after the original DMC. Unfortunately, after playing the original and Shinobi, all of these games seem exactly the same to me. Shinobi May Cry. Rygar May Cry. Ninja May Cry. Dracula May Cry. Retards who think Ninja Gaiden was anything special am crying. If there's an "action / adventure" game that interests me right now it is "God of War." Incog made "Twisted Metal Black" which is the best vehicular combat game this generation. The videos and previews I've come across for "God of Aware" are impressive to say the least. If it can avoid the tedium that games like Rygar ran into it could be a turly terrific game. I'm not sure I should be considering any new purchases with the amount of unplayed games I still have (with that situation improving at all time record slow pace). But "God of War" looks damn good.

And ofcourse, there's the launch of PSP next week. Finally a savior for handheld gaming. Nintendo was determined to live ten years in the past. Sony will bring handheld gaming into the future. Once again, I don't have the time to get one, but I sure wish that I did.

So it's a good start to the year. I turn 22 today. Good stuff. But I turned 21 in Las Vegas. Getting shitfaced to the max at the "Nine Fine Irishmen" pub inside the "New York New York" hotel. Sprawled out onto a fake Brooklyn bridge with live music, and overpriced beer. $6 for a Guiness Stout. $9 for a Car Bomb. I probably had about seven of each. I gambled. I ran into some girl I went to highschool with and managed to identify her by name (which ofcourse I couldn't remember the next day, or any day that followed). I couldn't remember my own name when speaking to her. It was probably the strangest coincidence of my life, and being more inebriated than I had ever been (and most likely, ever will be) made it all the more hilarious. If I run into this girl again at some point, I won't recognize her, but if I had said anything grossly offensive I'd have been slapped in the face right then and there, so I should be alright. I got to see the Dropkick Murphy's perform at the "House of Blues" inside Mandalay Bay the following night. I did a bunch of other stuff. March 17, 2004: best day of my life. March 14 - 19: best week of my life. This year is decent. Last year fucking rocked.

Happy St. Patrick's Day.