Ok, first off I BOUGHT A PAC MAN HAT. AWESOME. LOL. Liana wore it most of the day, and it actually came in handy when the temperature changed in the building from EWWW GAMER SWEAT to OMG FREEZING. I also…

…played a round of Mario Super Sluggers with Liana and had a crowd of people watch (lol got so nervous) – fun, but not $50 fun. The Iron Chef America game for the Wii is decent, but has too much of a minigame feel – Yes, I know I’m cutting carrots… but WHY? IS IT FOR THE MIRE POIX? THE SALAD PERHAPS? I NEED TO KNOW. lol. Alton Brown’s voice is a good bonus though!

I waited in one hell of a long line for the new Halo 3 map (purple reign) and got pwned. Tested Fable 2 at the Xbox360 kiosk… and it was a lot of running around with only 4 sets of enemies – boring. I really wanted to check out the towns and make virtual babies. No, seriously. I did. Castle Crashers had a really successful booth and HAD stuff to sell, but sold out so damn quickly. I really wanted some of the figurines, but maybe they’ll replenish their online store as well. Rock Band 2’s guitars looks sweet (sunburst wood pattern thingie) and the drum pedals are reinforced with metal for you heavy footed peeps.

I met Brian Crescente from Kotaku and Major Nelson from Xbox Live (man, he looked TIRED), but didn’t take pictures with them… ’cause I don’t think anyone would care. I mean COME ON, it’s not like they’re INTERNET FAMOUS like JACQUI CHENG (actually, they kind of are). lol.

One big BIG thank you to Liana for being so damn patient with my “c’mon sweets, let’s go,” to “oh wait, let’s check this out too,” to the “OH MAN JUST LIKE 5 MORE MINUTES PLZ KAIES?” 8 hours of ridiculousness. To tell you the truth, the most fun I had was chillin’ on those huge SUMO bean bags and playing Mario Kart DS with 7 other random people – talkin’ smack the whole time – Jeff / Jason / other DS’ers… if you wanna play online, let me know.

And lastly, some miscellaneous things:

We spent about an hour watching a Rock Band 1 freeplay set – Community is fun!
ITT Tech – Noes.
Saw Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton – felt like I had to buy something to say hello. Hee hee.
Little Big Planet was adorable.
The Naruto Storm game on PS3 looks JUST LIKE you’re playing an anime. Beautiful.
Tales of Vesperia (sp?) looks like an awesome RPG for the 360 – Prolly will pick it up soon.
Naked Sushi got a Blue Knight. JEALOUS.

It was fun, but would I come back next year? MOST DEF, but only if I pre-register and saved $10 off the regular walk-up fee of $30. Plan your vacations now people, we only have one extra bedroom. LOL.

YAY PAX!

~Spec

Liana and I bought and downloaded Dr. Mario Online RX, where we battled a couple times locally… then got our pride knocked down by random peeps on the ‘nets. Boo. After Liana got sweet sweet revenge, we decided to play Jason for a few rounds… which was more demoralizing than before. LOL. Oh yeah, friend code here:

7669 9876 5460

The game comes with a “Virus Buster” mode, which was a completely different experience. One to four people actually use their Wii controllers as remotes and “pick up and place” each pill down on a ridiculously large pill jar. It’s seriously crazy. COMMUNICATION PEOPLES, COMMUNICATION. I’ve said it before, but…

Think your relationship is strong? Try playing “Virus Buster” Co-Op on Dr. Mario Wii with your significant other. IT’S HARD. LOL.

Liana and I rocked it out up to level 20 before going to sleepers. I just wish I could do this online with my pals!

A great $10 well spent!

~Spec

Mario Kart Wii. If you haven’t bought it already, you’re probably playing Grand Theft Auto. Hee hee. The picture above was the result of my foray into racing with the nunchuck / wiimote combo. I really wanted to like the wheel. I REALLY DID. As you can see from the results above, Clint won the race and Liana’s already become a challenge to beat. Haha. Story of my life. I’ve chosen the bike as my vehicle of choice and I’m around 6000 “points” online. YAY. I’m in the process of adding people that I know have the game (there’s a lot of you so plz be patient lol), so maybe I’ll see you soon? Here’s my Wii friend code:

0473-8189-1696

Let me know if you want me to add you too. Here’s a list of all of the unlockables (via Gamespot) on the disc too. And now, a lil’ crusin’ music (I tried Dr. Dre’s Let me Ride, but I wouldn’t give it justice if I posted a clean version lol).

W00p w00p!

~Spec

Gametrailers has a trailer of Mario Kart Wii, due out Spring of ‘08. Apparently, the game is split three ways: karts (50cc) motorcycles (100cc) and both 4 and 2-wheeled vehicles (150cc). What I’m most excited about is the simultaneous 12-player online races! Liana already said that the Wii Wheel (included with each game) would get annoying to hold after a couple of rounds and I agree… sitting there pantomiming driving a car would get so unbelievably boring… FAST. That being said, I can’t wait to see more! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

YAY Mario Kart!

~Spec

hey- how did u attach your wii to the lcd before and use your logitech speakers? im trying to hook up the 2nd 360 to an lcd, and the best i can figure out is to get a splitter/ double coupler to the input on the speakers.

Jason sent me an e-mail yesterday how I got all those dang electronics connected to one LCD monitor. Well, it wasn’t easy… so I thought I’d post it on my blog to show everybody my setup back in San Francisco. Since Liana brought a TV (that I’m totally willing to upgrade hee hee), everything is hooked up properly via conventional means. I normally get the cheapest adapters available (only because I lose them all the time), so I’m not really picky about branding… I just linked to what was available online. I heart the brick and mortar stores!

Adapter #1 Composite Y-Adapter (link)

Adapter #2 5.1 Surround Sound RCA to 1/8” adapter (link)

Hope that helps Jay!

~Spec

You Tube link here. New Wii Zapper / Link’s Crossbow Training footage via Opposable Thumbs. For $20, the game looks good! Well, good enough to buy separately from the Wii’s new gun peripheral – the Wii Zapper.

Dunno what the Wii Zapper is? Honestly, it’s just a molded piece of plastic that allows you to fit your Wii remote and nunchuck in to make it feel like a two handed gun. Apparently, it’s supposed to make your aim more accurate than holding the Wii remote in your hand. Makes sense I suppose. Think duck hunt with a semi-automatic in your hand instead of a light gun. Then I could shoot all my targets without getting laughed at. Man, I hated that dog. LOL.

Anyway, the video makes the bundled Zelda game look like it’ll be a barrel of laughs (maybe except for everyone else in the room screaming OVER THERE NO OVER THERE NONOOOOOO). Sadly, it doesn’t look like there will be any chance of simultaneous multi-player, but that’s ok. Link was always a lone wolf anyway. Hee hee.

Zap Zap Zap

~Spec

HAY EVERYBODY. The writers @ Ars Technica’s Opposable Thumbs gaming journal have been busy bees reporting on the latest Wii news! YAY Wii! News links follow in order of personal importance, because I can. Hee hee.

1. Sonic the Hedgehog will be in Super Smash Brothers: Brawl on a Nintendo console. Everybody is writing how it would have been impossible 15 years ago. Me, I’m just waiting for the universe to implode when the game drops sometime next year. Link

2. The Wii Fit will be making its debut in Japan on December 1st for a US equivalent of $75, which probably means that it’ll miss the US holiday season. I kinda wanted to wait outside a retail store @ 5AM and camp out for one for giggles. Oh well, I guess I’m pushing that back a few months too. Link

3. The Wii Ware service will activate in Japan sometime around March and will launch two games available to purchase: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles and Pokemon Farm – where you can supposedly raise and take care of Pokemon from Diamond and Pearl. Link

So I guess none of this news will affect us Wii owners until next year. I *will* be looking forward to Super Mario Galaxy coming November 20th! But then again, I still haven’t played Halo 3 yet. GAAAAHHHHH.

Hooray games!

~Spec

OOH OOH someone created a workaround for playing DVDs on the Nintendo Wii. You still have to pop in a CD then swap it out for the movie of your choice, but its a SOFTWARE hack… which means that the Wii had DVD playback capabilities from the get go. If the DVD software was unlocked to the general public, that would bring the number of DVD players AT MY DESK (pBook, 1 reader / 1 burner in PC desktop, Xbox 360, Wii)… at FIVE. LOL. I’m sure it’s the same for most of you!

“PFFFFFFFFFFFT DVD PLAYERS,” YOU SAY? Well there’s also a modchip comin’ for the PS2 out very soon. What makes this hack so unique is that all you have to do is pop it in the memory card slot. I never owned a PS2, but there were a lot of games that I would love to play through like…

Every Final Fantasy game (especially #7!)
God of War
Shinobi
SSX 3
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4
Shadow of the Colossus
Okami

And that’s just ones that come to me right now! OOH there’s also that PS2 Slim too to think about getting. It would fit in nicely with my other gaming components! Oh man, I think I’m having gamer overload.

TOO MUCH TOO MUCH!

~Spec

Mark just sent me a bajillion Mii’s via the Nintendo Wii’s messenger service. Now I have… (oh crap I already forgot all of them) Grant’s, Brad’s, Chris’, Mark’s, Melissa’s and Scott’s all talking / sleeping / walking around on my Mii parkade. Jay sent me a couple more too! Spec and Laulau look so happy with all their new friends! YAY.

Also, I’d like to add how weird it looks when the pre-existing Miis’ surround the the brand new Miis that drop from the sky. It’s like they’re there to judge the newbies with scorn and prejudice. I always wait for them to pull out blunt weapons and bludgeon the new arrivals to a bloody digital pulp. If that were the case, I’d make a few sacrificial Miis on a regular basis. MWMWAHAHAHAH.

PSSSSSTTTTT… Hey hey *poke poke* Here’s my Wii number just in case you forgot *poke poke*

4825 | 3339 | 2986 | 9038 – Nickname: Special`D

Add me, then send me yours (via a comment or whatevs), k?

~Spec

GET IT? WII (RE)-DESIGN?!?!? All pertinent information about these Nintendo Wii remote skins can be found on a previous post: Wii Remotes: Skinned!. This picture is just for geeky bragging rights to remind me which Wii Remotes are mine in case I ever need a reference to look up when I bring these babies to a fellow Wii-er’s place. LOL. Yeah right.

TOBY AND ALICE, YOU’RE GOIN’ DOWN IN OAK-TOWN!!!

~Spec