With Peter Jackson’s take on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit coming out at the end of the year I realized to myself that I remember almost squat about the book. I could have sworn I read it years ago back in school but I only have vague images in my head. So while at Half Price Books with some pals, I decided to pick it up along with The Silmarillion. At under $2.00 each, it was hard not to pass up especially with the credit I received from the items I gave to the store.

Did I ever forget a large chunk of the book! I did not realize that the meeting with Gollum came so soon nor did I realize there was much after the meeting with Smaug the dragon. So much in between and so much thereafter long forgotten. …if I did really read it in its entirety. Nevertheless, reading every bit of it and being wrapped into Tolkien’s fantasy world again was quite the thrill. It’s enjoyable to see how Bilbo matures, acts cunning, and be very brave when faced with the situations he encounters when he was nothing more than a timid, reluctant fellow at the start of his journey. The unique characteristics of the dwarfs were interesting and Gandalf, well, he was ever the bad ass. It was great reading his character again and his adventures before The Lord of the Rings.

There are some events that I did not expect based on the development of characters that had me stating “ooh, swerve!” There were also events that my memory was incorrect on so it made it nice to learn how some events truly unfolded. If there were any points that dragged, I did not notice since I was so engrossed in the book eager to know what happened next. It doesn’t help with the way that Tolkien writes to describe his world and characters that easily creates a mental visual to be immersed into.

I was surprised at how fast I went through the book but it really wasn’t that long when compared to the lengthy The Lord of the Rings. It was a great adventure to read and it has me quite hyped the movie. I don’t think I can wait until year’s end for this to come out in theaters. Now I just need to go back in time, kick myself in the ass, and tell myself to put down that stupid game controller and read some damn books.

I was recently asked my thoughts on the Virutal Console service in a survey by Nintendo and it brought up another one of my frustrations with the company. As a consumer of Nintendo products and being familiar with the Nintendo Wii Shop Channel, I have to ask what was Nintendo thinking with their eShop for the Nintendo 3DS.

The Nintendo Wii Shop Channel uses a simple interface with everything nicely categorized and easy to navigate. Then you have the Nintendo eShop where Nintendo throws out easy navigation and simplified interface to give you as many types of large, bulky feature graphics that negates everything you already know. Even when accessing the sub-menus, you’re treated to large graphics so you’re constantly having to slider through title after title to find something. When I load the Nintendo eShop, it should be like the Nintendo Wii Shop Channel and present me with the main categories I can go to (Virtual Console, DSiWare). You have a second screen on top so show the featured games there and have the user click on a Features icon on the Nintendo eShop home screen to be shown all the advertised features. It’s really not that hard to bring your Wii Shop Channel interface over the Nintendo 3DS.

You know what else you should have brought over? Your method of currency. Those Nintendo Wii Points you have? Useless anywhere else. The same issue came up with the Nintendo DSi and its Nintendo Points. Both were not compatible with each other. Now these two are not compatible with the Nintendo eShop. Good job, Nintendo. The company is now going with real currency for the Nintendo eShop. Thats fine and dandy except for the fact that they are doing the whole 99 cent tacked on at the end of the price tag thing. Simple whole numbers? Gone.

Nintendo, with the large audience that you already have with the Nintendo Wii, did you ever think that they would most likely be moving on to the Nintendo 3DS? So, would it not have been best to create a sense of familiarity by giving them an interface that they would be familiar with? What about keeping to a currency method that they already know? No. Oh gah, no! You’ve demonstrated time and time again your ineptitude when it comes to something that’s not console hardware or a game. So why break that habit?

Nintendo, you should be creating a universal system when it comes to your consoles so that your consumers can have the same experience wherever they go. You’re only creating headaches for the consumer. I’ll save you for now on my complaints on why the Virtual Console is not also universal for titles and purchased ones at that.

Nintendo sold me on Kid Icarus Uprising for the Nintendo 3DS when it was shown off at E3 as well as promotional videos that followed. But Nintendo usually does that with me and their properties since they typically are good about their releases.

Treated with the familiar tune for the game from the Nintendo 3DS menu, a big smile was on my face. But it wouldn’t take long for that smile to turn into a frown and then simple spitting on my screen with rage. With the game split into two gameplay styles for each stage, it has its ups and its downs. The first half of a stage is similar to the classic Sega game Space Harrier. You flying around with the analog nub, aim your cross hair with the stylus and shoot with the L button. Simple enough and fun. Along with the constant chatter between hero Pit and the goddess Palutena, it made me interested even more since I found their banter to be cute.

It’s the second half of the stage that has you running around on land that drives me nuts for controls. Now the cross hair acts as your camera movement as well as aim for shooting. It’s poor design and makes traversing the stage difficult. Being in intense action, you’re forced to swinging the styles left and right to rotate the camera all the while trying to get an aim on the enemy. Along with the analog nub not detecting me when I want to dash or sidestep, it ruins what could have been a fun game.

There is an included stand that is suppose to help so you do not need to hold the console but I found this piece of plastic to be just as troublesome as the game itself. I found it constantly sliding on whatever surface I used and the Nintendo 3DS itself would slide from the extended base. I’m sure this all just comes down to like a iPhone 4 and that I’m holding it wrong. …which I don’t see how when it’s sitting on something.

There is no reason this game could not have used standard controls. I had the same issue with The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. In that case, I found the responsiveness of the controls to be plagued with inconsistencies with my swings. Based on what people have stated, it seems 50/50 for people to have those controls work for them or not work.

This is the issue I have: Nintendo continuing this trend of gimmicky controls while Microsoft and Sony stick with what is favored by gamers. Nintendo has taught me to use a control pad since I was a child and now they are telling me to forget everything that is the standard for gaming. I’ve given your gimmicky controls a try Nintendo and as someone who grew up on your systems, you’re seriously losing me as a fan. I always looked forward to your games because they bring me the must fun and entertainment. However, if this the road you’ll continue to go, I just can’t see myself getting behind your franchises anymore which is sad since I grew up on them.

Having trouble sleeping last night, I decided to searched for anything to watch while I attempted to doze off. What I came across is the anime Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai, a title about a group of outcasts and their club designed to help them make friends and build on their social skills.

What I saw was a cast of characters that drove me nuts in some way or another. To start, there’s Sena Kashiwazaki who has such an ample bust size that the animators feel they should bounce with the slightest of movements. Of course they also make sure you get plenty of skin of her whenever possible including a swimsuit that doesn’t fit her bust size at all. Yozora Mikazuki is quite abusive to Sena verbally, physically, and does several other things to get under her skin. Rika Shiguma is constantly sexually harassing the title’s protagonist. Kobato Hasegawa is the clingy little sister who likes to act out her favorite anime which gets old very fast. Maria Takayama is another young one who happens to be a nun and a supervising teacher to the club. She also develops a clingy attraction to the protagonist and will get into the most annoying fights with Kobato that has me wanting to scream for the two to shut up.

You know, I’m sure there was a plot in this title but I was focused on wanting to strangle all these characters. I figured a show like this would want to develop characters I would like but I’m easily not their target audience for this title that pushes the fan service here and there. There isn’t a character I like in this title. I can tolerate the protagonist Kodoka Hasegawa and the maid character Yukimura Kusunoki but that’s it. I don’t like them but they don’t make me want to bash my head into the wall. So, I guess that’s something…

There are many things that I was unaware that was shown on television during my childhood. One of those things was Barbara Walters, interviewer extraordinaire, going face to face with the radical, pizza eating heroes that us kids of the Tubbs household were into: the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I was so into them that I even dressed as Michelangelo for Halloween one year with an attached face mask and my parents putting the green make up on my face. Ah, memories. How I miss those days.

Anyhoo, the Turtles had their second movie hit the big screen and Barbara has a special interview with them in their lair on the night of the Oscars. I will say the actors in the costumes did a great job of being as human as possible in their mannerisms. It’s Barbara who was inhuman in this segment. It’s toward the end of the interview that she does something that has me questioning Barbara or the person that wrote this segment.

After insulting the Turtles, Barbara asks about the parents of the Turtles. The way she presents this question, it’s like she knows that they don’t have any parents and simply wanted them to suffer. This causes Donatello to fall apart and what does Barbara do? …shows that she is the devil! Seriously. Just watch the clip and at the end you’ll be asking yourself “What the hell, Barbara!?” …I mean I know these are fictional characters but cripes! What kind of message are you sending to the kids?

It’s that time of the year for everyone to go nuts trying to kill each other over a holiday that comes at the same time every year. It is also that time of the year for the usual holiday classics to be played over and over again. But there are some songs from my childhood that I remembered listening on the 1985 cassette Christmas Comedy Classics (definitely a purchase my father decided on). These were songs that made me laugh from such folks like Mel Blanc and Stan Freberg. As much as some holiday classics bring a smile to my face, I definitely prefer the ones that have me laughing.

Stan Freberg’s “Green Chri$tma$” is the one track that I remember most from my childhood. It’s the story of Scrooge and his big advertising agency discussing with his associates in how they will dress up all things holiday related to shill their products. It’s an amusing track about how Christmas has become this ginormous ad and how its original meaning has been forgotten which a naive Cratchit brings up to Scrooge. Now an adult, I can better understand this track. …and can’t help from laughing since I’m in the middle of having to design some advertising for the holiday.

Yogi Yorgesson’s (Harry Stewart) “I Yust Go Nuts At Christmas” tells the story of a man’s happening during the holiday from his down on his luck self to the dysfunctional family that he deals with during the holiday. There’s something about the way Yogi’s “Swedish” voice tells this story that allows me to easily picture this poor man with bags under his eyes who just wants some relaxing time to himself. Mel Blanc’s “The Hat I Got for Christmas Is Too Beeg” is the story of a poor fellow who for reasons unknown received a hat too big from Santa Claus. The song goes into all the mishaps that occur due to this hat and the fellow’s unhappiness toward Santa.

There are some other oddball ones out there that I also remember like the Stan Freberg’s “Nuttin for Christmas” about a very mischievous boy who tells his tale of all the bad things he’s done. These aren’t masterpieces but it’s simple humor that will still make me laugh every year as I visualize each story in the art style found in Looney Tunes and the like. …and then shake my head and realize how true most of it is.

I haven’t done much in the MMO scene. It’s kind of an on and off affair. I’ve had my hand in World of Warcraft, some indie style games (before they were labeled indie), and a lot with Ragnarok Online (official and mostly private servers). One thing they all have in common is they are point and click. Sure they are fun but I suck at all those keyboard hot key things. However, there is one game that has come along that mixes several things I like: side scrolling, platforming, hack n’ slash, co-op console style game play and the ability to use a controller.

The game I refer to is KOG Studios’ Elsword. The game does an amazing job and gives me the feeling of the side scrolling beat’em-ups like the good old arcade classics and modern titles like Castle Crashers or Muramasa. The game uses a combo system based on light and heavy attacks along with skills that have pretty cut-ins and effects like the Capcom versus titles. Even the same sound effect when you initiate it! The game is filled with several quests and many ways to upgrade your gear. It definitely has plenty to offer.  The game does get a little cheap with you replaying the same stages over and over on different difficulties but with the amount of action, it doesn’t seem so bad. With each new difficulty level, new sections to the stage are added, and more enemies will show up for you to pummel.

There is no create a character. You actually play one of five (six later next year) characters each with their own unique play style and story. Yes, like any other RPG, you follow the story of the character you play even with cutscenes. There are outfits you can buy to customize your character but that’s where this game gets you. It’s one of those games where you have to use real money to get some of the snazzy stuff but I’m happy with playing for free. …minus the hat I purchased for my mage character.

It’s a really fun game that feels like a mix of fighting game and beat’em up. I actually forget it’s a MMO style game because of its format. But if you’re into flashy graphics and beating things up, I definitely recommend you check the title out. And if you do, you can find me under my characters “AirRaid” and “Mystico”.

So… the insanely popular girlfriend simulator LOVE PLUS by Konami for the Nintendo DS has been mostly translated into English by the efforts of many people. …I cannot deny that I have had some curiosity for the title for a while ever since seeing the design and outfits for one of the girls from this title. And I have stated before that if it was in English, I’d give it a try.

Well, here is that opportunity for the very first title in series and my chance to “date” the sweet and innocent Manaka Takane, the responsible and mature Nene Aragasaki, and the tomboy tsundere Rinko Kobayakawa. So I gave the game a week and experienced a week going out with my first (virtual) girlfriend. Did the relationship with LOVE PLUS last or is it not going to work out?

Read on for an introduction to this game and my first week with LOVE PLUS.