It’s rare that I post something not related to $20 GOTY, but this is a special occasion.  Morrowind was one of my favorite titles on the original Xbox, and it’s sequel pretty much addresses everything I didn’t like about Morrowind.  From the combat, to the menu, to travel, and the skill system, everything has been overhauled %100.  The best thing I found early on is that the intro sequence, in which you have to escape from prison behind the ill fated emperor (who is voiced by Patrick Stewart), gives you a chance to try out each of the skills available.  When you reach the end, you can change anything you want.  Anything you can think of, it’s in here, from stealth, to destructive magic, to marksmanship.  The only thing I don’t like is that the construction kit available on PC isn’t available here, but oh well.  Hopefully the downloadable content will offer us some interesting stuff.

Diamond Select Toys has announced that they will be offering the Spider-woman in the ‘black’ (its always been blue to me) costume as an exclusive at the San Diego Comic-Con this July. Pictures can be seen by following any of the links in this post.

[via TNI]

From the Diamond Select Toys site:

Spider-Woman: San Diego or Bust!

Diamond Select Toys is excited to announce the latest exclusive item for this summer’s San Diego Comic Con – our Marvel Select Black Spider-Woman! Hot on the hells of our regular Spider-Woman release, this version of the buxom beauty features an all-new paint design sure to please fans of the masked maiden.

Available July 19th through July 23rd, the Marvel Select Black Spider-Woman depicts the second Spider-Woman, Julia Carpenter. After receiving her powers through secret experiments by the Commission on Superhuman Activities, Julia took up the Spider-Woman name and replaced the presumed-dead Jessica Drew as a member of the Avengers. Although now retired, her actions contributed to the defeat of the Beyonder during the infamous Secret Wars.

Standing 7 inches tall and including a detailed Hydra base, the Marvel Select Black Spider-Woman is in scale with past Marvel Select releases and will feature the line’s trademark deluxe packaging.

Before Halo 2 came along, this was the biggest game on Xbox live, and it’s still one of the favorites of many Xbox live gamers.  It’s a flight simulator, but it’s so easy to pick up and play.  The single player campaign isn’t bad either, taking you through an alternate reality 1920s.  Really, it’s there to give you a taste of the different planes, and there isn’t much of a reason to go back after you beat it once.  THere is also plenty of downloadable content for use in multiplayer.  Hopefully Microsoft will bless up with a sequel.

I stumbled on to this and thought “Hey, how did I miss this?” and then I checked the upload date it was only posted a few hours ago, so odds are you’re seeing it for the first time just like me.
[Read the rest of this entry…]

After a friend of mine clued me in that he had written much of the the Wikipedia entry for Metroid Prime Hunters, it occured to me I still have yet to post my opinion on the game.
MPH is a lot less forgiving that the the Gamecube original. Lock-on is gone, ammo is required for all additional beams, and with the Hunters running around randomly from planet to planet, you could walk into a confrontation when you’re least prepared.
The title is kind of a misnomer too. I’m not 100% on the game yet but there has yet to be any reference to Metroid Prime, the final enemy and title character of the first gamecube game in the series.
Anyway, starting is a little easier than prior games because you’ve still got your boost ball, Varia, bombs, missles, etc. And you won’t lose them either. Progress is hindered rather by not having certain beams to open doors, and sometimes confusing number of teleporting pads.
Its unlikely any Metroid fan will be disappointed with this game, though the hardcore few who firmly beleive in the games time honored sequence breaking and massive exploration might be kinda let down its such a straight forward shooter. Its not quite as brilliant as Super Metroid or Metroid Prime, but from a technical standpoint I am amazed by how well the DS handles this game, as its very visually rich and often times VERY fast.
I’ll take time to sample the online aspect and multiplayer tomorrow, but I can reccomend this game purely based on its single-player, beleive me.

And to those who preferred Retro studio’s console games, theres always Metroid Prime 3

I want one. Like right now. But I don’t have the spare cash, and if I get a second job then I won’t have time to play it or anything else for that matter. Whats a gamer to do?
I’m going to try to gank one for free. After examining security and risk factors of my local Best Buy, I decided the safest way is to follow up on one of the billions of pop-up and banner ads telling me I can get one free or win one.
First things first, I made up a new gmail account just for email pertaining to these offers, surveys, and contests. I want this free, but I’m not going to flood my own inbox with new spam.
Next I just dropped “Free xbox 360” into google and clicked the first link. It asked me for simple information first like “Where should we ship your free gift?” and then asked me to check out some “great” offers. After clicking “No” to college degrees, cell phones, and diabetes treatments… i was taken to another page of offers. And a lot of them were repeats.
After turning down roughly 70 offers, I get to the meat of it. I have to complete 2 trials off a list before proceeding to the “shipping” phase. At this point, I finally go down to the disclaimer at the bottom. I must complete 2 trails now, with 4 more trials in the future in order to get to the 360. That doesn’t sound too bad, as long as I can cancel these when I’m done and still get my Xbox.
I’ll update later as I get closer and detail any time or actual dollars spent in pursuit of my reward.

By the way, within 20 minutes of starting I already had 3 spam messages in my new email.

NBC’s remake of the Merchant/Gervais BBC comedy “The Office” has managed to become surprisingly brilliant on its own, exceeding the originals depth of characters and uncomfortable humor.
Taking it a couple steps further NBC presents 16 fake “More You Know…” PSAs featuring the cast of the show.

Since I was so enraged by both the Matrix video game and the delay of New Super Mario Brothers, only one thing could make up for it.

A shot-for-shot remake of a scene from Matrix Reloaded with Mario and Luigi.