in the third person

Nintendo made it really hard for people to accept their new toy, and in my opinion brought the severe media backlash upon themselves. Sure, after reading the millionth weblogger/game reviewer/self-made gaming pundit's witty retort, the whole “DS as Virtua Boy 2” thing gets a bit tired. I'll even confess my own guilt in the knee-jerk reactions posted previously, although I do still see the possible good. And then there were those that tried to salvage what they could from the scraps of information about this new gaming device, namely GGA and Ludonauts (warning: gassy but well-intentioned). Cobbling every one of these reactions together, it's still just pontificating and speculation. Even in the interview with Nintendo of America's PR department in the form of Beth Llewelyn, we received no new information except maybe the orientation of the screens and the format of software, but even that isn't the soothing salve that the Nintendo faithful were looking for. Gamerfeed has a pricing estimate that correctly places it in the less than $200 USD category, effectively competing against the PSP (assuming of course that is the intention at this point) but almost twice the cost of a GBA-SP. They even let on that there is development already ongoing for a game of Shigeru Miyamoto's devising, codenamed “Buzz”. I shall cleverly point out that this conveniently gives a name to the current animosity towards the company. Despite the negativity, I'd say Nintendo's announcement last week definitely did the job – there isn't a gamer on the god damned planet that can wait to see the DS revealed at E3 this year, even if it's just to see it fall flat on its face. If you say no, you're lying. I can smell it. So how about we all just sit back and relax, let the world merrily continue to spin on its axis, and see what Nintendo has in store.

Remember the Thief III petition that went up as soon as Deus Ex: Invisible War landed on the shelf? I think this press release is a little more fuel to throw on the petitioners' burning effigy of Warren Spector. Ion Storm even revealed the game's proper name: Deadly Shadows. Yes, a third person view will be provided, but you can still go back to First Person. Being able to view all angles around Garrett is an intriguing design decision, and will allow access to new avenues of thievery. I imagine this new perspective would also come in handy during jumping puzzles, and give a little more breathing room when trying to perfectly place that rope arrow. Let us not make any more references to Lara Croft or crippled console ports; the graphics still look great and I am confident that the latest game in this respected series will not end up like Deus Ex's ill-begotten sequel. I say this because the game has been delayed not once, not twice, but three times before its current release of May 2004.

After binge gaming on Metroid Prime yesterday, my brain was soft enough to withstand the 2004 presentation of the Golden Globe Awards. They're kind of like the Oscars, except pointier. I am no way endorsing these totems of all that is wrong with the North American entertainment industry, but it sure was nice to see Peter Jackson getting noticed for all of his hard work. The cynical person might say that the Hollywood Foreign Press was just jerking him off; after all, it was the last film in the trilogy so they might as well ride the crest of the wave. I mean what the fuck was wrong with Fellowship? These stupid things are a good indicator of who's going to curry favour with the Academy in March, so perhaps it's finally time a movie featuring a supporting cast of hobbits, elves, and orcs shows everyone that it's okay to take the genre seriously.