Today, Nintendo has finally taken their first baby step on the path to providing us with Wii game demos. Free demos for a handful of WiiWare games are available to download from the Wii Shop now (including one for World of Goo which, by the way, you HAVE to try if you haven't played the game yet) and I have just finished downloading my first one: Pokemon Rumble. (This is the part where I fall to the ground and start writhing in pain). Why is that such a bad thing, you may ask? Well, Rumble is made by the same company that made Ranch (insert sudden jolt of pain here). In case you don't recall, I don't exactly think of My Pokemon Ranch very fondly. In fact I must have been in a good mood when I reviewed the game, giving it a score as high as I did. So I have now clicked on the channel from the Wii Menu and have witnessed those ugly, choppy plush toy Pokemon bumping into each other for a moment, and now I'm about to experience this madness for myself. I'll let you know if I make it out alive…

I'm scared…

Well, I'm back and have completed the demo. I was pleasantly surprised at the demo length, hopefully the other game demos last this long (about 20 minutes or so). The game itself was dreadful though. This game actually has gameplay, unlike Ranch, but there isn't much to say for it. You play as one of those poorly animated Pokemon from a bird's eye view, walking around pressing A to attack other Pokemon. That's it. There is nothing more to this game than walking around pressing A. There are a bunch of different Pokemon, but they each have ONE attack! ONE! And they basically do the same thing, even if each one looks different. And what was up with Mankey's attacks being showered with hearts? That's just not right! Pokemon Rumble is probably the most effortlessly easy, simple game I have ever played in my life. It's leaps and bounds ahead of Ranch, but remember that's not really saying much. So save yourself the $15 ( it costs that much!) and don't even think about thinking about buying this game. Get World of Goo instead. Or anything else for that matter. Just not Pokemon Rumble. Or My Pokemon Ranch. Ok?

Soli Deo Gloria
-TissueShoe

Well, not an actual hurricane. But you know, amidst all the excitement and buzz about that Duty Calls game or whatever that came out today (jk, I'm not that uninformed ) I feel that Switchfoot, aka my favorite band ever and a well-respected band in the music industry, came out with their seventh and possibly best studio album today entitled Hello Hurricane. I actually got it on Friday, since I preordered it on Switchfoot's website and paid for the fastest shipping it arrived much sooner than expected. And that = . The album is simply fantastic, in all honesty and maybe just a little bias . Seriously though there's something for lots of different musical tastes on that album, I highly recommend you listen to it by going to Switchfoot's MySpace (the entire album is available to listen to, you don't need an account or anything). My order of favorite songs is roughly: Hello Hurricane, Needle and Haystack Life, The Sound, Your Love is a Song, Mess of Me, Bullet Soul, Free, and Red Eyes. The whole album is awesome though, and while Sing It Out didn't make the list of my personal favorites it's a dark and haunting yet stunning and beautiful song that anyone should be able to at least appreciate. The album is so diverse in its sound that any given song could easily be anyone's favorite, the album is just that way. Personally I love each song on the album (some more than others), although Yet has yet (heh, that's funny) to really grow on me. I still really like it though, even as my personal least favorite track on the record. So check out Hello Hurricane and buy it if you like it! It's worth it! Well that's it, gotta get back to work, see you all later!

Soli Deo Gloria
-TissueShoe

Switchfoot is streaming the ENTIRE album Hello Hurricane starting now, a whole week before it comes out! I'm listening to it now, and from what I've heard it's about as good as I expected. Remember that my expectations are sky high for this thing, and that it's been my most anticipated piece of entertainment for months. Switchfoot is amazing! Check it out on their MySpace! They also have a new, and *official* video for Mess of Me, check that out on YouTube. Rate it, comment on it, favorite it, and tell people about it if you like it to promote the video! In completely unrelated news, I wrote a quick review for Doc Louis's Punch-Out!!, the free game Nintendo gave as an option to its platinum members. Well that's it for today, just needed to stop in and let you know about those pieces of awesomeness for the day and tell you about that little review too, which clearly isn't as significant as Switchfoot's new music and stuff. See you later!

Soli Deo Gloria
-TissueShoe