I dunno who actually reads this anymore. Gone are the days in which 25 comments was a small number for me and we broke 70 frequently. Facebook is just that much better than this I guess.

Anyhow, being the Zelda freak that I am, I'm excited for the new DS game Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6dgiMig8Bk

It looks like it'll turn out really well, and it's been confirmed that the difficulty will be upped from Phantom Hourglass.

This excitement has led me to replay possibly my favorite game ever.

The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker

Ya ya I know I always say Ocarina of Time is my favorite game ever but come to think of it I haven't played WW for 6 years and if my memories of it are even slightly correct it's the most fun I've ever had with a video game. I sold it a while back along with all my GCN stuff to get a new guitar, but it's only $18 used at Game Stop so I figured I could pick it up and play through it all again.

I recently started to replay Twilight Princess, another fantastic game, but I realized how long it had been since I played Wind Waker and how it had only been about a year and a half since I played TP last. Then the more I thought about it, I remembered that Wind Waker was the better game, so I halted TP after Goron Mines (one of the best dungeons ever) and switched over to Wind Waker.

Also, I've decided my top 3 video games ever:

1. Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker

2. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

3. Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

Yup..... all LoZ. They're just way too good.

Well we're almost 2/3 of the way through the year so I felt it might be time for an update on the whereabouts of best movies and games of the year. Sadly I haven't bought many new album releases this year, sticking to some older stuff, only really have a top 2.

It was really hard to pick the order of the movies, as I've really loved every one of these. I had to include a tie for 5th just to make it a top 6 really because I couldn't choose . I'm pretty confident in that the top 3 will remain the top 3, although they could shift around a bit, but past that I have no clue which one I like best, so keep that in mind.

MOVIES

5. TIE

The Hangover

The Superbad of 2009. Absolutely pi$$ your pants funny, definitely one you'll want to see a few times.

The Hurt Locker

A stunning, extremely suspenseful film. Without a doubt the best war movie since Saving Private Ryan, and on par with all the great war movies in the last 25 years. I really found it hard not to put this higher up but hey something has to be #5 on a top 5 list.

4. (500) Days of Summer

I actually saw this with my mom on her birthday because she wanted to. I had interest in seeing it, although I was just expecting a pretty good movie, nothing real special. I was treated to one of the best romantic comedies I've ever seen, touching, yet it never forgot how to make you laugh. One I would gladly watch again.

3. Star Trek

Although some people here are saying "Oh, it's shallow, not very deep, blah blah blah," (no offense Lock), but I think you're all forgetting what Star Trek is supposed to be: fun. It was a light speed enthralling blockbuster that got the blood rushing and put you on the edge of your seat. Hell even the critics remembered to put aside harsh criticism and just have a ton of fun (hense, the 83/100 average score). All in all just a hugely entertaining film.

2. District 9

What a year for Sci-fi! The trailers made this movie look like crap. It looked like another humans rule aliens suck Sci-fi money maker. However when the reviews rolled in and it got an average of 81/100, my interest perked up a bit. I was treated to an incredibly original and emotional story, perhaps the best story ever seen in a Sci-fi movie. It mixed drama and social statements (relevant to today I must say) with the hugely entertaining violence Sci-fi is known for. However even with guns that blow people up, and chain guns that gather all the bullets in a giant clusterfukc before exploding at everyone not a Prawn (alien), it was all ignorable when you got into the story. You actually feel for the aliens, and you view them as equal to the people, living beings with lives and goals of their own. More than once did I fear for a prawn's life. By the middle of the film I cared more about the average prawn than all the government b@stards trying to kill it. I'm extremely tempted to put this at #1. EXTREMELY tempted. In fact I'm considering switching it right now. But the #1 is such an amazing film it deserves it at least as much, and honestly I don't know which one I like more.

1. Up

Well shocking isn't it. Ya the fact tht I love anything Pixar practically touches didn't give this away did it? Well I'll go slightly further: this might very well be Pixar's best film yet. It made me cry (first movie EVER to do that), and not only did it do this, but it did it not once, but twice! Okay one time I teared up but didn't cry, the second time tears full out ran down my face, BUT STILL THAT'S AN ACCOMPLISHMENT FOR SOMEONE WHO ONLY SLIGHTLY TEARED AT SCHINDLER'S LIST! Pixar never ceases to amaze me. The first half of the film was the most perfect thing Pixar has ever done. The second half, still amazing, typical Pixar, but they truly outdid themselves on the first half. Well done gentlemen, keep up the good work.

Seems to be a good year for films, so let's check in on the video game report.

5. Mad World

You know it's a good year for games when I start a top 5 countdown with a game that I originally scored a 10/10 and hailed as one of the Wii's best games. Well I've lowered the score to a still superb 9.5 in my mind (because it didn't end up as replayable as I expected), it remains one of the Wii's top games. Nowhere else have I seen such huge amounts of gore, but as they say, the more the merrier!

4. Punch Out!!

If you played this game as a kid, it's one great trip down nostalgia lane. If not, it's a fantastic introduction to one of the great franchises in gaming. Extremely challenging, very addictive, and it just has that great old school feeling. More a puzzle/strategy game than a real boxing game, it interlaces genres flawlessly. Nothing really bad you can say about this game at all. Some could complain about lack of new characters but that's a petty complaint, seeing the old characters come to life in 3-D is better than all the newcomers.

3. Tiger Woods PGA Tour '10 (Wii version)

I'm a bit of a closet golf fan. I don't talk about it much, but I watch any tournament that comes on TV and have always liked playing golf, although I'm not particularly good so I stick to mini golf, and this. The best sports game in years. Ya, in so many years, that it's the best sports game ever made. Absolutely FLAWLESS 1:1 motion control is the highlight. Huge replayability is another huge part of its success seeing how many new modes and courses there are. Start, a career, play a link or two, play disc golf (don't ask WHY), play online, you can even challenge history in past tournaments! What's even better? You can "compete" with the pros in real time during tournaments.

2. [Prototype]

Take Mad World, get rid of quicktime events, add color to the graphics, make another equally amazing story, make a huge sandbox world and add the ability to fly around by shooting blood from your wrists at jet speed velocity like emo Peter Pan (not my quote, but I like it), and you'll get Prototype. I wasn't expecting too much out of this game, just hoping for a good violent game to fill my craving (the Wii leaves a little violence to be desired ya know). However I got one of the most fun games I've ever played. I played this with my friend, trading off every 25 minutes for 15 hours and we didn't get sick of it. At all. Every moment was cherished and when 6:00 AM came, I was disappointed that we kinda needed to stop.

AND NOW FOR #1, THE ONE YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO CLUE ABOUT....

1. Little King's Story

If you didn't know this either you didn't read my last blog, your IQ is 15, or you have a severe case of short term memory loss. Yes I all but expressed will to put out and fukc this game in the last blog, so I assume your sick of it. Haven't heard about it? Good, go read the last blog, it'll kill 25 minutes of your life. One of only 3 games I've ever scored an 11/10 (2 actually, OoT was a 12), meaning it pushes beyond perfection (DUH), which basically means if you have a Wii buy it now you total retard what are you doing pi$$ing your pathetic life away reading this when you could be pi$$ing your pathetic life away playing Little King's Story?!?!?!?! It's much better and it should suck away about 60 hours of your life instead of the 5 minutes on this blog. I've beaten the game and for the first time ever, in any game, I'm going for 100% completion (unless you count Majora's Mask as 100% without all the heart pieces, same goes for OoT and TP), which should take upwards of 100 hours. There's not much else I can say, in the words of a wise poster on a thread about LKS "I can't describe things that are too awesome." Just get the damn game already, if you regret it you deserve the looney bin.

*cough cough* So much dust on this old thing. What I made like a 10 word blog on July 20th and before that I don't think I have blogged for months.

Well it seems Shadow, Elmis, and Jacob have all stopped coming here, though seem to be kinda active on Facebook, it's just not the same without having a wide open flame fest that anyone can see. Lock, I see you still on here occasionally... kudos for keeping it kinda alive.

I actually have been on Gamespot quite frequently, but I haven't touched tv.com in ages, and I still won't. I like the more old fashioned look of Game Spot and mp3 better. But mp3 is so dead that I've been the featured user on the front page for about two years now... and no one updates anything, so I've been hanging out on Game Spot. Besides, Nintendo apparently decided they wanted to be nice to me and start making good games, which bring sme to two QUICK VIDEO GAME POINTS. Then I will avoid video games for the remainder of the blog.

WHO THE HELL TURNED ON THE "MAKE GOOD GAMES" SWITCH AT NINTENDO?

Ok seriously, you can't go a year and a half making no good games, or so few that it's not even acknowledgeable, then decide "Hmmm I think we're gonna try to make up for 1.5 years of sh!te by releasing about ten great looking games all within a few months!"

Ya, not cool. I don't have that kind of financial support. I just bought The Conduit a month and a half ago, which was worth it, not amazing but definitely a solid FPS, and in July I bought Little King's Story (we'll get to this one later). Theeeeeen they bring down the hammer, and decide that they have to release a Metroid Prime Trilogy pack! Fukc you I need to buy this, I never played Metroid Prime, got halfway through Metroid Prime 2 then got stuck, and beat Metroid Prime, and would love to play it over again because it's a masterpiece. Okay, okay, it's just one more game, $50, and it's three games in one. Great deal. Now let's look at September... yay my wallet can survive the Wii doesn't have any heavy hitters coming up, other than maybe Muramasa: The Demon Blade and I'm not too keen on a Japanese 2-D platformer/fighter right now, and Dead Space EXtraction which looks sweet but I think I can wait until Christmas or something on... BUT WAIT, CHECK THE DS! SCRIBBLENAUTS, MARIO AND LUIGI: BOWSER'S INSIDE STORY, AND KINGDOM HEARTS 358/2 DAYS! COME ON I DON'T HAVE $100 A MONTH FOR GAMES! Okay calm down you're getting great games you can't complain. Let's take a look at October. While we're here let's check the DS... nothing, perfect I'll have that month to play whatever I don't buy from September. Now for the Wii... Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, annnnnnnnd... nothing else! Because Red Steel sucked and therefore a sequel will suck right? RIGHT? NO?!?!?! WUDDYA MEAN IT LOOKS GOOD?!?! Lemme see that video... great another $50 or 60 (WM+) to piss away). Well with all these great games coming out you'd think they'd leave December open to some crap for the holidays, so let's hope there's room for other stuff under the tree. Well Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers looks good, but it's after Christmas, so I've got a while, and I doubt it'll even be released until next year, despite what Game Stop tells me. Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks? Awesome, my favorite series, and there's only one game so I can focus on it. Now let's check 2010's lineup. The only hope my wallet has is that they spread Metroid: Other M, Super Mario Galaxy 2, and New Super Mario Bros. at least two months apart and at least in April or later because No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is coming in early 2010, and having recently bought No More Heroes for $18 and recently FUKCING LOVED IT, I'll definitely be getting that. Good looks like there's a good number of games coming out in 2010, not too many that I can't even afford them all... what? More are coming out? Not just the ones on gamestop.com? The Grinder? Golden Sun DS? Monster Hunter Tri is coming over from Japan? WHAT?!?!?! MAYBE EVEN A NEW LEGEND OF ZELDA FOR WII?!?!?!?! A TON OF OTHER STUFF WE DON'T KNOW ABOUT?!?!?! NOOOOOOOO NOW MY BANK ACCOUNT IS DOOOOOOOOMED TOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

They coulda spread all this out over the last year and a half and with good enough spacing still had enough great games to fill the slots all the way up to 2011. Oh well, I'm being dramatic, I can wait until Christmas, I'll be able to hold off until Christmas on a good number of these.

Speaking of unholy amounts of gaming.....

Little King's Story.

Ooooooooooh I can hear you know. LOLZ WII IS FOR 5 YEAR OLDS LOOK AT THAT GAME LOLOLOL IT SUCKS!!!!

YA WELL FUKC YOU YOU KNOW WHAT'S BENEATH THAT CUTE CUDDLY LOOK?!?!?!

A FUKCING AMAZING GAME

Wii Game of the year? Yes. Game of the year for anything? Yes. Best game on the Wii? Verrrrrry possibly. Best game ever? Not gonna say yes because people will start naming flaws, and how I'm being hasty, but let's say this: it contends for the title as much as any game, and yes, could very well join the ranks of Ocarina of Time as one of my very favorite games, if not the #1 game. I'm sorry it's just I've never played a game for 16 straight hours with a friend who did nothing but watch mesmerized not even caring he wasn't playing, with me loving every moment of it, then having him come over again another day, and willingly watch for another 12 hours straight. And you know what? He loved it again. We both had a great time. Now you're saying I had a better time because he was there? Well I'll let you know those 28 or so hours of gameplay make up a fraction of the time I've played it. And the biggest fraction you can get is half, so I've spent at least 50 hours playing this game. Yet, I still need to fight the final boss. I've done every little side quest, tried to build my kingdom up from nothing to everything even when I didn't have to. I enjoyed every minute of it thoroughly, even when I was retrying King Jumbo Champloon 10 times before I beat him. Even when King Long Sauvage's beard was whacking my men off the mountain was I having a bad time. Not even when I was arbitrarily digging for treasure because we were running out of money was I bored. Not even when a carpenter was taking his sweet time building that bridge and a giant poisonous frog jumped out of the lake and lande on my men, killing 5 of them, was I frustrated... or when there was no frog, was I bored. Not even... well you get the idea.

Every last part of this game is fun. And that's what a game is all about: fun. The problem with today's gamers is that they've forgot that. Someone on the Wii board brought up a point that this was like a N64 game, and at no offense to the game. I didn't think of it, but I realized they were right. This is the kind of return to form games need. It doesn't need to have explosions and guns and gore and t!tties (although I won't lie, the game benefitted from the Long Sauvage princess' gigantic, Earth shaking boobage), it needs to be FUN. And Little King's Story is fun in its most pure form. The Wii's first party releases like Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3, and Super Mario Galaxy have all been amazing. You know why? Because Nintendo is the last of the big three companies not afraid to make a "fun" game. Sure violent FPSes (you could make an argument that Metroid Prime 3 is a violent FPS but I think it has something that separates it from the rest) are fun. Sure games like Prototype and inFamous are a blast. But it's games like Little King's Story that made the world fall in love with gaming. Remember the Nintendo 64 lineup? The golden age of gaming? Games like Banjo-Kazooie/Tooie, Super Mario 64, Donkey Kong 64, Legend of Zelda Oot and MM, Conker's Bad Fur Day, and Paper Mario that ruled the shelves. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. There was a reason the N64 was such an entertaining console, it was because rather than needing to be something resembling a bloody porno, the games relied on gameplay, and fun designs that made you smile. That's what Little King's Story has returned to. And apparently there is one other team out there willing to just make a fun game, Cing.

I've also never been afraid to play a game because I'm worried I'm gonna beat it and it'll be over.

I know I ALWAYS overreact, but come on, I played a game for 16 hours, slept for 5 hours, woke up, and played it for 5 more hours after my friend left! How often do you do that? How many games can really grip you for that long? Not many.On the GoTY part, absolutely no overreaction. On the best game for Wii, it is a solid competitor,easily trumps most anything, and it might be better than the other heavy hitters. Best game EVER? We'll really have to see. I don't think we could ever get past the perfection of Ocarina of Time in gaming. Games like Majora's Mask (which is about as good as OoT, but loses a little on the "being new" points, Wind Waker (noticing a trend of Zelda games? ), Twilight Princess (like Majora's Mask, close in quality, but not in originality, which is fine) have come close to the same type of perfection, and games like Metroid Prime, Super Mario Galaxy, Okami (sorry for the lack of other console games, I do believe those 3 superior to any other current console's games though, and Okami is a PS2 game) have found new ways to create near perfection, but I don't know what can top it. I'll tell you one thing though, if it doesn't take it down, Little King's Story is without a doubt one of those games that is grabbing at OoT's ass, trying to grasp perfection (teehee), and only comes up short because it isn't OoT in the first place. Had Little King's Story been released 11 years ago, I have no doubt it would be called one of the greatest games of all time. And really, it deserves such a high title regardless of the year it was released. It is simply a masterpiece that you must experience. Anyone not giving this game at least a 9/10 is really picking away at the game. OH NO LACK OF IR! OH NO SLIGHTLY ANNOYING SOUND EFFECTS! OH NO... err... OH RIGHT. There are no other complaints anyone has made that had some sort of relevancy. I don't need IR, I can deal with strange sound effects, but I CANNOT deal with people picking away at a game for obnoxious reasons and forgetting they're supposed to be having fun, not picking at how bad the mechanics in the table tennis (yes, I sh!t you not, it is in the game) mini game are.

While Little King's Story is receiving massive critical acclaim, an 87/100 average on Metacritic, I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority of people who say this is one of the best games ever. But everyone who can appreciate truly great games, and not just FPSes with fun online, is just afraid to say that a new game that's not a sequel is as good as the older games. Well you know what? I'm saying, Little King's Story is an absolute masterpiece and if you're letting kiddy graphics, lack of IR, or Corobo's squeaky shoes make it an 8.5/10, tough. Seriously if LKS came out for the Xbox 360 (and had been better advertised), IGN would give this game a 9.5 at least and call it the best game of the generation. But of course they're critics, and as such, will say, "no IR Pointing waaaaaaaaaaah blah blah blah -0.5 points". Shut up IGN, it's either the best game for the Wii, or if not one of the 3 best, and it's among my favorite games ever. You don't like it, Sucks, it's my opinion and although maybe not quite as raving as mine, if you play this game with a need for blood and boobs or a craving for pointing at the screen for unnecessary reasons, you will love it.

11/10

HA!

And for once my extraordinarily high scores are justified.

The Escapist : Video Galleries : Zero Punctuation

You will watch now. Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw. Best video game critic ever. Hates the Wii, but he's hilarious.

Also he lives in Austrlaia. Bonus for you people down there.

Nooooooooooow theeeeeeeen.

Did I just write all that on games? Are you kidding me? I was trying to cut back and make those two things quick but nooooooo I'm such a NERD that I just had to write all that.

Anyway, I've been doing a lot of volleyball this summer. Too much volleyball. Way too much.

I've never said that, but all in all I played about 70 hours of volleyball within a month. 7 hours a day at three different camps, totaling up to 12 days. Minus 4.5, minus 5, minus 5, minus 2, so just under 70 hours. That was really a bad idea I must say. Really intense and extraordinarily straining on my body. Don't do that again. Don't do that again. Don't... ah whatever.

All I've done in the music department is listen to half of "Veckatimest" online since no one seems to have it ANYWHERE, which Ireallyliked,definitely gonnahavetobuy,andreplacedcopiesof"Superunkown"and"Axis:BoldAsLove"thatmymomlost.Shereplaced them actually, makes sense since she lost them.

Oh yes I also bought...

and

Both great albums, "RATM" is a little better, but that's what you can expect when comparing one of a bands' first albums and another band's... how many is that now? We will make up a number known as abrytuilj until we know more. So anyway "The Eternal" is a fantastic abrytulijth album for Sonic Youth, while "Rage Against the Machine" is a cla$$ic everyone should, and prolly does, have. Of course you'd suspect me of listening to "Killing In the Name" over and over, but "Bombtrack" gets just as many plays, "Testify" gets close, and "Take the Power Back" might just be the greatest pump up song there is. No better album to just pop in when you're pissed or feel like blasting out your speakers.

Also I have mastered the solo of "Bohemian Rhapsody" because I am just amazing. If you need a reminder of how great the solo is:

YouTube - Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody

There, with that extra listen you have just bettered your life because you may have just listened to the greatest song ever. No, not favorite, greatest. Come on it's possible.

And I actually have more news in music than I recalled because somehow this slipped my mind...

34543.jpg 500×333 pixels

Yes my friends, Pearl Jam live. Same place that I saw Smashing Pumpkins, The Gibson Ampitheatre.

There's one big difference between this and the Pumpkins show though:

I'M IN THE PIT!

YIPPE KAI YAY MOFOS!!!(or something to that effect)

Being a member of the Ten Club has its advantages, as does being willing to work over $163 for tickets that only come in a two pack.

October 6th, really psyched. Might have to miss volleyball practice, but it'd be worth it.

Well I've sufficiently tired myself out, as it's 5:04 AM. I have a lot of movie stuff to talk about, but I might as well make a whole 'nuther blog for it. First I'll have to see how many people are even still here to comment.

Goodnight, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, whatever it is whatever time it is where ever you are, have a good.... errr.... time! That's the one. Have a good time.