Hi everybody. I'm so tired. About a month ago, I received a promotion at work. This promotion came with a small raise and a big jolt of responsibilities. But it also came with power. Now I have the authority to make the layabouts get to work. Cackle cackle. So it's been very awesome, but very tiring. Things should start to settle down now that September's almost here, but August has been nuts. So nuts, in fact, that I haven't had time to post individually each time cool news came down the pipe. And there's been news. So here's my awesomeness news dump.

Here's the obvious one to start with:

PS3 Finally Affordable

And smaller. I've been wanting to get me some PS3 for a while now. I've kept track of games on the PS3 and the 360 that interest me, and if either list got too long, it would become time. Funny thing is though, that a chunk of the 360 titles that interested me are PS3-bound. Eternal Sonata, Braid and Castle Crashers are now coming or have come to everyone's favourite blu-ray playing game console. But to be fair, it was the price drop, the redesign and The Last Guardian that did it for me. Ico and Shadow of the Colossus were some of the finest games I played last generation. I wouldn't miss the chance to play the third installment. That and the new Katamari.

The Return of Earthworm Jim

I remember back when Mega Man 9 was just a rumor, there was also a rumor of a new 2D EWJ. But it's been ages and nothing had been said. Until the other day. At first I thought it was Earthworm Jim 4, and I was all "Whoooaaaaa Nelly!" but now word is it's a remake of the first Earthworm Jim. Which, okay, hm, fair enough. Just do me a favor, company who's remaking Earthworm Jim but I'm too tired to look up. Could you make that Down The Tubes 2 level a bit easier? Yarg I hate that level. I mastered Queen Pulsating Bloated Festering Sweaty Pus-Filled Malformed Slug-for-a-Butt's stage, with all it's worm whip insanity, but Down The Tubes 2 was always a huge challenge for me. (By the way, I did not have to look up Slug-for-a-Butt's complete name. That's all WonkyLobe.)

Epic Mickey

The intertubes really kersploded over this one, didn't they? This is generally the sort of game, and this happens a lot, where I hear about it and I'm like "This is the coolest Wii game ever. The intertubes are going to kersplode!" and then I look around and everyone's smearing hate all over the place, claiming the Wii has nothing cool, and killing puppies. If you people would stop hate-smearing, Wii-claiming and puppy-killing, maybe you'd notice cool stuff too. Oh right, you guys noticed Epic Mickey. So I'll settle down.

Funny thing about Epic Mickey is that we really know next to nothing about it. We know it's Disney. We know it's got some sort of post-apocalyptic jazz going on, which is all the rage in games that garner attention these days (Kids, I just came home from seeing Ponyo in theatres, which I thought was a great, happy movie. If you're one of those people who will consume nothing but angry, dark, fally-aparty worlds full of sarcastic, grizzled and unshaven protagonists fighting everything by shooting it in the face and then tea-bagging it for 20 minutes, then Ponyo is not for you. But you're missing out.) Um, where was I? Mmhm.. right.. oh yeah! Epic Mickey is about old Disney characters who have become steampunk monsters and are now out for revenge. Oh! And it's also Okami.

Speaking of!

Okamiden!

So Famitsu.. or Edge.. or Nintendo Power.. once again, I'm too sleepy to go do my fact-checking today. One of them magazines said they'll be revealing what Okamiden is next week! Month! Next something. Maybe this is where I should really go check my facts. Hang on.

...

Famitsu, next week! And here's some promising news for you Okami loyalists who would like the (we can only hope) franchise stay on the same console. I found this while I was searching for the facts I just checked fer ya. Ahem:

"Fortunately, I was able to be part of giving one of those great games a second chance to be appreciated, bringing Okami to the Wii, and it has sold quite well. It's good to see that game get the commercial respect it deserves. (And it proves great 3rd party games can sell on the Wii!) - Spyborgs Lead Producer Daryl Allison"

I like the sounds of that. Good sales = Desire to make more. Let's hope Okamiden is exactly what we all want it to be.

Ummm.. What else..

Oh!

Winter of the Melodias

I've been complaining about the lack of LostWinds 2 now for.. it's August now.. 12 months plus.. 15 months! They told me there'd be a LostWinds 2, consarnit! So now we finally get confirmation! LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias, where you can not only control the wind (which is, like, SO 2008, and like, NyxQuest did it already and junk, you know? Pshya!) but you can also control the seasons, making it winter or summer and back again. And all I have to say is: Finally! I thought for sure this project was cancelled. It's very nice to see, even if it's WiiWare. What I'd love though, LostWinds Company, is if, maybe, you'd take LostWinds 1 and 2 and you make a bunch more game, then you cram it all on an optical disc for me to hold in my physical hands so I can have a physical copy, physically. I like packaging.

I really like the Metroid Prime Trilogy's packaging.

That Thing I Just Said

Yeahuh, I'm now the proud owner of the Prime Trilogy. I was late to the party for Metroid. I think I had a friend who had a friend who owned Metroid when I was a kid. I remember seeing someone play it but I didn't know them well enough to ask to play it myself. Or maybe I'm just familiar with Metroid because of Captain N The Game Master. But I never played me some Metroid until about last year. I played through Prime with my gamecube controller and about 1/3 of Echoes. But then Japan started getting them New Play Controlled and I was like "I'm so there" even though the intertubes hated NPC. I don't hate it. It doesn't excite me but I have better things to do than hate products I don't intend to buy. I've also now completed Metroid and I'm currently undergoing Super Metroid. By the time I've caught up, Other M will be out and I'll be so sick of Metroid, I'll fling my copy at random schoolchildren.

So sleepy.

Lightning Round!

• Zombie Panic in Wonderland! (WiiWare) Onrails zombie shooter the way it was MEANT to be.
• TMNT: Arcade Attack (DS). What is this? Is it like Turtles in Time ReShelled? I hear it's two player local co-op. Kickass!
• 3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3). Couldn't possibly be as awesome as it seems, could it?
• Nicalis' Project Q (Wii?) I love Nicalis. Check out the trailer, it reminds me of Out of This World.
• Retro keeps saying they've got something cool coming, but I want to know what!
  
• Tower of Shadow! (Wii) I'm so psyched about this game but it's 1 in the morning. Otherwise I'd write more! Maybe I'll write more later. Yeah, that's my next blurg. Tower of Shadow!
  
• Hey Nintendo! Where's my VC Yoshi's Island and Super Mario Kart and fricking Uniracers! You loved Uniracers back in the day, I remember you did, don't lie to me. I saw your TV ads. Where's my VC Uniracers, Nintendo?!
• Speaking of missing stuff. What's the deal with Project Hammer? Come on! You're letting Squeenix outpace you!
• Sigh. Crashing. Professor Layton 2.. want more Retro Game Challenge.. Fantasy Life and Sakura Note.. cool.. "Super Mario Collection" trademarked. Whassat? So much news. So sleepy. Gimme Trace Memory 2. Tomenasanner. Seriously. It's a thing. Look it up. It's about a businessman beating up truant students in a 2D platformer or something. I don't know.
  
• Now I sleep.
• Zzzz.