Snowboarding Envy

Shaun White Snowboarding is what SSX Blur should have been. I guess it was too early when they were developing Blur as the balance board had not been released in the US.


• Wii Balance Board Integration – Get yourself into the game like never before by using the Wii Board to control your rider. Control your carves, jumps and grinds with the intuitiveness and fun of having a snowboard in your own living room.

• Everyone plays, no one waits – Engage in a seamlessly integrated multiplayer experience for two to four players, where every player is active in the game at all times.

Kotaku has the press release (and screens) here.




sources: Kotaku & XPlay

Dr Mario Online

GET!
Really looking forward to the multiplayer aspect.

Came out today with no fanfare from Nintendo. They'll probably post about it on Tuesday, when they're back in the office.

On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode 1

Guest review by Sharp.

I bought On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode 1 for the PC. It cost $20, so I figured I didn't have much to lose. I spend more than that on one trip to Applebee's.

Anyway, I played through the tutorial this morning, and I'm convinced I made the right decision. I laughed out loud more then once in the introductory level alone. The combat is mostly Final Fantasy-style "active time". Each character's attacks charge up, then you click the attack, then the target (if necessary). When an enemy attacks one of your characters, you can hit the space bar when the enemy's lifebar flashes to block some of the damage. A successful block has a chance to cause you to counterattack. Special attacks charge after your regular attack charges. That is, you wait for your regular attack to charge all the way, then the special attack starts charging. Every special attack has a minigame associated with it. If you perform well in the minigame, you'll do maximum damage. Also, if multiple characters have special attacks ready, you can do a devastating team attack. So, if you are confident in your ability to block, you could theoretically go with just special attacks, it seems. However, since they require a bit more time to do, you might not want to do them that often, or only when you really need the extra damage.

The writing is ... well, it's Penny Arcade. If you laugh at Penny Arcade, you'll laugh at the game. It's pretty much that simple. I admit to liking it a little more because of the appearance of favorite characters from the strip. It's kinda like Smash Bros. Part of the appeal is the characters involved. If you don't like the characters, or don't care, your opinion will diminish slightly.

Noitu Love 2 Trailer

Pretty frantic. Looks cool.

Link Dump Part 3 - Everything Else

Insert Credit links to an electronica musician with a penchant for 8 bit sounds. His MySpace page is here.

Sea Slugs anime blog made a shinigami subway sandwich reference that just makes me laugh. Dig it.

Blog by the name of The Way I Am has some interesting thoughts about manga. At first, I thought it would annoy me, but I find that I agree with a number of her points. Read it here: My Issues With Manga. 

Phew, link dump complete. Opinion pieces on the horizon, time willing, o' course.

Link Dump - Comics Edition

Hello again, here are more links that I have accrued - again of various degrees of freshness.

That swank Wolverine art on the left there is by Ardian Syaf. Check out his DeviantArt page here.

Joe Quesada answers some questions about the X-men in his MySpace Cup o' Joe blog.
source: Agent M's twitter feed, I think.

Marvel Take 10: International Heroes (Top 10 Int'l Heroes)
Agent M thought it was X-Men heavy, but X-Men is all about being international and diverse. I would have liked to seen Elektra on there (she lives in the US but is still very Greek. Buuut, I'm biased.)

Newsarama has their way with Peter David and squeezes out two interviews, regarding She Hulk's future (less bitchy, plz?) and the Shulkie/X Factor crossover (I wish I was kidding)

In even MORE She Hulk news, here's the cover sketch from She Hulk 30. Jen gets way friendly with Hercules. *sigh* I miss Dan Slott.
source: Peter David.net

Runaways is getting a #1 relaunch - with Terry Moore writing and Humberto Ramos as the artist. I only read Runaways via the trades and Joss Wheadon's ridiculously long hiatus, it's time for a reboot. The idea behind this book is too good to be squandered. Sad bit: the Runaway that died in the first run of the book (no I am not saying who, it's fairly obvious by now anyway) doesn't seem to get resurrected in the relaunch. Boo!

I still have yet more links to share but I'm grouping them by similarity for now. Check back soon for more.

X-Men Manga : Back Away Slowly

Juuuuust found this on Japanator.com.

Re: X-Men manga -They've turned Beast into Totoro. Seriously. This will be a disaster of epic proportions.

Scoot over to Japanator.com to see new art from the X-Men: Misfits manga series. Thank gawd they seem to have forgotten Rogue exists. So thankful for small favors.

Note to Del Rey manga - this is NOT the way to bring comic book readers to manga or vice versa. You are just making all the geeks really irritated. *facepalm*

Blog Dump - Japanesque Link Edition

Hello, I've been collecting some links for you - they're of varying degrees of freshness. Some more fresh and delish, others rather old and chewy, but still delish.  Enjoy. :)

 

SD Tekken posts pics of Cung Le as Marshall Law from Tekken. (for the movie). I know I've seen this guy somewhere outside of MMA fighting.

ColourLovers blog shows designers and other creatives why Miyazaki is a Master of Color and Magic.

 Download.com's emails bring some good stuff sometimes!  They reccomended Noitu Love 2 Devolution (demo). From the screen shots, it seems pretty cool. I'll most likely download it and give it a go. From download.com's official blurb: The year is 2288. The city is protected by an organization called "The Peacekeepers League," and everything is swell except for that it's under attack by a robot army lead by professor Darnacus Damnation! Or is it?

(The blogger) Gia reports that D Gray Man has been licened by FUNimation. I've only seen the first episode of the anime, but the manga is AMAZING AND WONDERFUL and you need to read it right now.

ANN reports that HalCali will be performing in NY on June 1. I am trying not to drop dead from jealousy.

Heisei Democracy posts news that there will be a Tama-chan hug pillow released. I really could have done with any other character other than the tiny loli on this pillow. If you're going to be ecchi, at least make it someone who looks a bit older, like Miya-Miya.

In 'this had better not be like Minami-ke season 2' news, AnimeNation reports that Nodame Cantabile will be getting a season 2. < waluigi voice > SO GOOD! < /waluigi>

Potemayo Toy! DO WANT! (found at DannyChoo.com)

an old link, but still quite funny - Giant Boobs Save the Day! (well, win a court case, but save the day sounded better.)

Okay, I found more links than I thought I had. I'll be posting them over the next few days, time willing.

Happy Wednesday, dood. (in which, I ramble...a lot)

Well, today (Wednesday) is the big day at the comic book shop. What are you picking up?

As for me, it's my regular fix of X books (only one this week) X Factor. (I somehow have Xmen 209 and 211 but missed 210 so I'll be grabbing that as well)

After looking at the giant mass of Xbooks and She Hulk that's dropping next week, I think I am going to pass on Xmen: Divided We Stand. I never got a chance to properly read the first issue and I'm not huge on vignettes. Well, ones that don't relate to Rogue and any of her extended family (Mystique, Nightcrawler, and any of her past or future kids. Genext anyone?) Also, it's 4 bucks. Meh. I'm a cheapass and think for an extra minute for some of the 3.99 priced books.

I really hope XMen Legacy picks up - it's a bit dry right now. While I love his followers, I'm not the biggest fan of Xavier himself. Especially these days. Although I shouldn't complain, his flashbacks gave me my much wanted glimpse back into the Hellfire Club. I miss those pompous, self centered windbags and their fabulous ascots.

On the DC end of things, it's time for another great (I assume) issue of Birds of Prey. I miss Gail Simone on the book, but I think the writers that followed her have really done a bang up job. *throws the horns*

recap for this week: X-Factor 31, Xmen Legacy 210 (way late), and BOP 118

Next week (the wallet pain!)
DC: Blue Beetle 27, Huntress Year One #2
Marvel: She Hulk 29, Uncanny Xmen 498, XForce 4, Xmen Legacy 212

Crikey! Apparently all my books bunch up into one painful week. ~_~;

As you can tell, I'm more into comic books these days. It's not that I don't absolutely love gaming and anime (I DO LOVE THEM! SO HARD!) - I'll go into my reasons on why comics have kind of eaten my life in a future post. Well, that's the plan. My life usually doesn't turn out as planned, so let's just hope for the best, shall we?

Swank Rogue art by the awesome Steven Sanchez! Check his DevArt page here.

MINTIA!

This was mentioned on Attack of the Show as well as TV in Japan.
It has now cemented itself in my skull. Now, I'll pass it along to get stuck in your head.